Will of Fire
by Tokumei Yurei
Summary: "Now you next… Any likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams..?" "Yo, I'm Haruno Sakura. I don't have a lot of likes or dislikes… I don't have that many hobbies either, but one day, my dream is to become the next God of Shinobi..!" (Adopted from Kisara White)
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This is originally Kisara White's story and I adopted it. The first two chapters are based on Kisara's, but I probably will make my own changes here and there. Hope you enjoy~**

Will of Fire

SUMMARY:

"Now you next… Any likes, dislikes, hobbies, dreams..?" "Yo~ I'm Haruno Sakura. I don't have a lot of likes or dislikes… I don't have that many hobbies either, but one day, my dream is to become the next God of Shinobi..!"

* * *

 **Chapter 1:**

Sakura gave a wide grin as she placed the new headband proudly on her forehead. She quickly dressed in her newest clothes that she bought specially for her new day as a Konoha shinobi. She put on a black, long-sleeved, kimono shirt, held closed by a red sash and ended it with baggy pants. She moved her hair that was tied in a low ponytail aside, and put on red armor she had recently bought. The piece itself thin and flexible, looking exactly like the imitation of the late Uchiha Madara's armor. Sakura had always been obsessed with the armor ever since she had seen Hashirama's and Madara's armor in a field trip to the Ninja Museum. Many children however laughed at her, scoffing and belittling her for wearing such strange and outdated clothing but Sakura however, could have cared less. She put on her shoes and ran out the door, her face a lit with happiness.

A couple of shinobi watched as the girl ran by, her face bright with a wide smile and gleaming eyes. The girl finally ran from sight, covered by the crowd and buildings.

"So, is she on your team Kakashi..?"

"...Hm? I guess so, yeah," Kakashi said impasssively, turning his eyes back to his orange book.

"A blossom as pretty as that with a fire burning that strong in her eyes can only be the epitome of youthfulness! I'm sure the youthful blossom will one day be a good rival for my Tenten-chan!"

"...Hm, did you say something, Gai?"

"Gah! You are too cool my rival! Next time I will definitely beat you!"

"...Hah?" Kakashi asked, confused.

* * *

Sakura's chest heaved as she sat in her desk, barely making it in time. Suddenly the seat next to her was taken by a person she knew well.

"Sakura-chan!"

"Hey Naruto!" Sakura greeted, her smile widening.

"Hey Sakura-chan, so ya finally bought it?! It looks awesome! You look just like those ninja in the museum!" Naruto said giving her a thumbs up.

"Thanks." Sakura grinned.

Suddenly a loud, familiar voice made both newly made genin jump. "Naruto! Sakura! I am about to call out teams now. If you will...?"

"Ack! Iruka-sensei!" Naruto yelped, partly out of suprise, partly out of habit.

"Ah, gommenasai Iruka-sensei!" Her face burned as she heard the snickers throughout the class. Iruka sighed.

"As I was saying... First of all, congratulations for graduating from the Academy. Second, as you may or may not know, you 27 graduates are going to be split three man cells with a jonin-sensei as your sensei. Any questions?" Naruto opened his mouth "Good, so let's get started shall we?" Naruto closed his mouth with a grumble. "Alright, starting with Team 1, we have..."

* * *

"Team 7 will be Uzumaki Naruto, Sakura, and...Uchiha Sasuke!"

Naruto loudly protested his complaints on being on the same team as a loser like Sasuke. Iruka was yelling at Naruto giving him a lecture on how technically Naruto was the worst while Sasuke was the best. Sakura, amidst the loud argument and the screams of heartbroken fan girls, glanced at Sasuke. He was scowling to himself until he caught Sakura's eyes. Sakura merely raised an eyebrow to the lone Uchiha who glared at them before looking away.

Finally Iruka called out the rest of them and he said, "Please wait for your assigned teacher. He or she will come to pick you up and explain how things work as an official genin of Konoha." Naruto and Sakura a grin. They were finally on their way to accomplish their dream, and there was nothing that would stop them!

 _2 hours later..._

"Agh! I can't stand this! Why is only our jonin-sensei late?!" Naruto said peering out of the classroom.

Sakura, too, was getting impatient. At one point, she had started to try a conversation including Sasuke to relieve some of the boredom, but he had only brushed her off, muttering 'annoying' loud enough for her to hear. He hadn't changed a bit.

Suddenly Naruto yelled, "That's it! I can't take it anymore!"

He leapt up and got a chalkboard eraser, placing the object in between the space between the sliding door and the doorway. Sakura opened her mouth to argue when the door opened. She winced as the eraser fell on top of the person who was probably, most definitely their teacher.

Naruto was laughing his head off while Sasuke was staring at the man doubtfully. The gray haired man slowly bent down to pick up the eraser before speaking. He paused, staring at the eraser before crossing his arms.

"Hm... How do I say this? My first impression on you all? Well, I hate you." The three deadpanned simultaneously at his words. 'Seriously?' They thought.

* * *

Sakura sat with the others on the roof and watched as her teacher, who she was pretty sure had no experience in teaching whatsoever, asked them to start with introductions.

"Introductions? What should we say?" Sakura asked.

"Your likes, dislikes, your future dreams, hobbies... you know. Things like that."

Naruto just stared at him somewhat suspicious. "Hey, before that, why don't you tell us about yourself first."

"Me? Hm… My name is Kakashi, what I like and dislike is none of your business, I've never considered my future dream... As for my hobbies... Well I have a lot of hobbies."

They sweatdroppped and Naruto whispered to Sakura, "All we learned was his name…" However Sakura was staring at the man closely. Hatake Kakashi? Was this perhaps the son of the White Fang, Hatake Sakumo?

"Okay. Now it's your turn! Let's start with you." Kakashi said, nodding towards Naruto.

"My name is Uzumaki Naruto! I like instant ramen, but I like the Ichiraku ramen that Iruka-sensei treats me to even more! I also like Sakura-chan! What I dislike is the three minutes it takes for ramen to soften after pouring in the hot water! My hobby is comparing and eating ramen." Kakashi looked unimpressed. Naruto's voice suddenly took on a serious tone. "And... My dream is to surpass the Hokage! And then, the entire village will acknowledge my existence!" Sakura smiled sadly. Kakashi looked at him contemplatively before turning to Sasuke.

"Okay, next."

"My name is... Uchiha Sasuke."

"Pfffft." Sasuke glared at the pink haired girl. "Did you really have to pause? Did you forget your name or something?" Sasuke turned his head away from her. 'Tch'ing under his breath. Sakura calmed down. She had meant it as somewhat of a joke.

"I have lots of dislikes, but not likes in particular. I don't have a dream, but I do have an ambition. The ambition to restore my clan and without fail... to kill a certain man."

Kakashi remained unmoved. Naruto, on the other hand, looked horrified and was slowly scooting away from Sasuke.

'He doesn't... mean me, right?' Naruto thought.

Sakura snorted. "You forgot about hobbies." Sasuke whipped around to glare at her. "Besides, when you said you wanted to kill somebody, you meant out of revenge, right?" Sasuke sneered.

"And it it is, so what?" Sakura sighed. "If you kill him, so what then? Revenge doesn't solve anything. The only thing it does is incite hatred. A single person avenging the death of another creates more grudges. And once it starts, it's near impossible to stop. And if everybody went about pointlessly killing for the sake of revenge, then how many people do you think would be left in this world?" Sakura said, defiantly staring back at Sasuke who merely scoffed.

"Don't go running your mouth like you think you know everything, you Shusa. If that man died, nobody would miss him. In fact, they'd rejoice." Sasuke ended with a hiss. Naruto flinched, still oblivious to what they were talking about. Sakura stared at him with narrow eyes.

"Then if that ever happens, I'll miss him. But there's no way I'll let it happen. Peace cannot be created from acts of violence. And besides, no matter what he did, isn't he still you only family?"

"Shut your mouth-"

"Hai, hai. Let's not get too worked up here. I said introductions, not a huge battle of philosophies." Although the pink-haired girl's sounded quite interesting. Kakashi's eyes flickered to the female of the group. She was wearing armor exactly like that of the Sengoku Jidai, and as ridiculous as it looked (and clashed with her hair), she obviously wasn't a complete idiot.

"… Next is you." She grinned with a carefree smile, loosing all seriousness from before.

"Yo~ I'm Haruno Sakura... I don't think I particularly have a lot of likes or dislikes… I don't have that many hobbies either, but one day, my dream is to become the next God of Shinobi..!"

* * *

Shusa- abberation (can be abnormality, freak, mistake)

 **A/N: Sorry, sorry! I know I haven't been updating and stuff, but I'm really trying tow work on my other stories, but it's kind of hard adjusting the stories and sometimes I regret rewriting it... but based on the backstories I have in my head it just doesn't fit the personalities! I have rewritten like the first 2-3 chapters of each story, but I want to upload it possibly together once I rewrite at the point I have left it off of. So anyway this story was up for adoption( thanks a lot Kisara White ;)) and I really liked the story, so I'll be updating this while I'm working on my other chapters. The first maybe 6 chapters of this will come out pretty fast I think since that's how far the original story was written to. Please don't hate me for being so slow.**

 **~Tokumei Yurei**


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2:**

...

...

Sakura sported a wide grin as the others continued to stare at other. Sasuke let out a snort of contempt.

'Someone as weak and pitiful as you will never become the next God of Shinobi,' was written all over his face.

Sakura glared at Sasuke. At least she had a dream! She took a step forward, and Kakashi tensed, ready to intervene if a fight broke out. Fortunately, Sakura merely pointed at him and said with chilling voice, "Just watch me."

Sasuke ignored her, and Sakura's blood began boiling. Did he have to be so rude? She took deep breaths to calm herself. Right. She had a promise and a nindo to fulfill. There was no way she was going to break it over something as petty as her anger.

Kakashi cleared his throat, breaking the silence that had settled over the group. "Well then… We'll have a mission tomorrow…"Naruto leapt up in joy.

"Mission! What kind of mission is it, dattebayo?!"

"Hmm... It only requires 4 people to do it." Naruto was practically bouncing in his seat.

"What is it? What? What? What?"

"It's a survival exercise."

"Survival...exercise?" Naruto looked disappointed. "Why do we need to do an exercise? You said it was a mission! We already did a lot of exercises at the Academy, dattebayo!"

"This is no simple exercise." Kakashi chuckled darkly under his breath.

"Then tell us already!" Naruto groaned at their weird Sensei. "What kind of exercise is it?!"

"If I tell you, you'll get discouraged." Kakashi said lightly. At Naruto's confused face, he continued on. "Out of the 27 graduates... Only 9 will pass. In other words, the remaining 18 will be sent back to the academy. Do you get it now? This is an extremely hard, and dangerous test with a failure rate of over 66% or more." Kakashi reveled in Naruto's horrified expression and Sasuke's agitated look. Sakura stood up.

"That doesn't matter, though. Even if the failure rate is 66%, it's the 33% chance of success that matters, right?" Sakura said with a grin.

"Right Sakura-chan!" Naruto cheered as he also stood up. Sasuke once again muttered something under his breath that sounded a lot like 'idiots'. Before Naruto could process what Sasuke had just said, Kakashi once again spoke up.

"Well, that's how it's going to be. Bring whatever ninja tools you want tomorrow, we meet at Training Grounds 3 at five in the morning. Okay~ You're dismissed. Ah. And you should probably skip breakfast. You'll throw up." With that, the grey-haired man disappeared.

Sakura began walking away, hand on her chin, and thoughtful look on her face.

Naruto ran after her, yelling. "Hey, Sakura-chan, wait up..! Do you want to go get ramen today?"

"Hm? Ah, maybe not today, Naruto. I want to go visit the library. Besides, if you're going to ask me, you should ask Sasuke-san as well. Ja ne!" Sakura said with a wave.

"Eh? But Sakura-chan why the teme?" Naruto looked back at the Uchiha who glared at him.

"No."

"I never intended on asking, Teme!"

...

...

The librarian of the main library in Konoha was a man by the name of Hon Kantoku. Kantoku was a retired shinobi with a lame leg who carried a hard wooden cane that came down frighteningly fast upon any shinobi that crossed him. Most shinobi viewed him as an intimidating figure who had no patience for anybody who damaged or lost any of the contents within the library. Therefore, most, if not all, shinobi practically tiptoed inside the library, and treated every book and scroll like like an important missive to another country.

However, despite his tough exterior, he was quite soft. At least Sakura Haruno thought so. Hon Kantoku himself was quite fond of the pinkette who was an avid reader and had spent what seemed like any spare time she had holed up in the library. It had been adorable how the child had always lugged books twice her weight and size back and forth. Not to mention how she would constantly pester him to define or identify unfamiliar words. (She had adamantly stated that always getting the dictionary was a hassle and the definitions within the dictionary required her to look up several more words, and so on and so forth.)

So when the girl arrived in the bulky armor, headband tied over her forehead, and eyes brimming with curiosity and excitement, there was no way he could turn down her request for a bingo book. With his supervision of course.

"Your Sensei is Hatake Kakashi, hm?"

"Hai, Kantoku-san! It's definitely him! His dad was the White Fang, right? This is so cool! There is no way I'm failing the test tomorrow! And it says that he's copied over a thousand jutsus!" Kantoku gave her a mild glare at her loud voice, and she smiled sheepishly in returned. "Sorry, Kantoku-san. But it's amazing to think that our Sensei's going to be somebody as amazing as this." Sakura's eyes were practically shining. This was the son of the man who had become a legend, the man who had made the lives of his comrades priority over the mission.

"That's if you become his student. I believe that man has failed about 3 genin teams so far."

"Then we'll be the first team to succeed and become his students!" Sakura said without missing a beat. Kantoku chuckled at her enthusiasm. They both heard a muffled cough that drew their attention. A man that looked like a jonin came out from behind the bookshelf.

"I apologize for eavesdropping, but you said that you got _the_ Kakashi Hatake as your Sensei?" At the girl's nod, the man laughed loudly, and Kantoku's eyes narrowed at the man's volume. "Sorry, sorry," the man said as he wiped tears from the corners of his eyes. "But believe me, that man isn't as noble or interesting as you think he might be. You know, he's actually a lazy bastard who always arrives hours late, an extremely convincing liar, and reads porn in broad daylight. And when I mean broad daylight, I mean that guy straight out reads it in public." Sakura stared with wide eyes.

"How do you know this?"

"An old classmate or friend I guess you could say. He's a hard guy to read and a gloomy fellow too. But..." The man raked his gaze across the genin's strange outfit. "Ah, well, I'm rooting for you, pinky. You and your team just might be the first one to pass his test." The man turned to walk away.

"Um, wait! Shinobi-san!"

The male cocked his head back. "Eh?"

"Ano, what is your name?" The man smirked, rolling the senbon in his mouth to one side of his mouth.

"I'll tell you if we ever meet after you pass Kakashi's test. See you then!" Sakura's mouth opened, then closed, staring at the retired shinobi next to her for help.

"You'll just have to pass tomorrow then, won't you kid?" Sakura pouted, then seemed to realize something. She made a grab for the bingo book in order to search for the man with short brown hair, but the former shinobi easily swiped it out of her reach, sternly reprimanding her that she could look through it after she became an official genin. She sulked. Her thoughts wandered over to the test taking place tomorrow. She had a strange feeling about the 'test' coming up. There had to be a reason why the man had failed 3 teams consecutively.

She thanked the librarian for allowing her to look through the bingo book, who in turn, just waved her away, grumbling under his breath.

"I suppose I should visit Mom and Dad, huh?"

...

...

Sakura stood in front of memorial stone, endless names carved in it. She clenched her fists and her eyes landed on a pair of names.

Haruno Kizashi.

Haruno Mebuki.

She took a deep breath and said softly, "Hey, Kaa-san, Tou-san… I graduated the Academy today… Now, I'm one step closer to surpassing the God of Shinobi…!" She smiled brightly here, pointing at her headband as if her parents were there to see the gleaming metal imprinted with the leaf insignia. "I'll definitely accomplish my dream. If I can become the God of Shinobi... then I'll definitely be able..." She trailed off. "And Mom, you can tell her not to worry! I'm definitely working on it. And also, if you can find Naruto's parents up there, you can tell them I'm definitely taking care of their son! Maa... He's so troublesome sometimes, though." Sakura said crossing her arms. "I have to make sure he's eating vegetables and everything or he'll die of diabetes and his room... Mom you'd definitely faint if you saw how messy his room was at first-!"

Unbeknownst to her, Kakashi was listening in the foilage nearby, concealing himself as he was intruding which was obviously a private moment. Kakashi watched as the girl started animatedly waving her hands as she seemed to be retelling the events of how they had discovered a three inch centipede that had taken residence in an old styrofoam cup. The stone, of course, did not talk back. The only thing talking to the stone ever did was remind them of the people who had been lost. Who was he to talk…? He shook his head catching the last part of her conversation.

"I'll might, no, I _will_ be starting missions and training soon and I might not be able to visit as often, so..." Sakura's hand unconsciously reached up to the thin chain hanging around her neck. "Watch over me." Seemingly finished, she walked away, humming slightly under her breath.

Kakashi appeared in front of the stone, once his maybe student was out of sight. He stared at the direction that she had left in with a strange glint to his eyes. Such an interesting group of kids that Sandaime had picked. The kyuubi jinchuuriki, the sole survivor of the Uchiha clan, and a pink haired girl with an ambition to become God of Shinobi. He shook his head to clear his mind. They weren't his problem. He smiled bitterly.

"Hey, Obito. Rin."

* * *

Sakura wore the same armor as she had yesterday, although today, she had a katana strapped across her back and a bag hanging from her shoulder. She was soon joined by an exhausted Naruto and a little-more-grumpy-than-usual Sasuke. Sakura stretched as noon approached. It was just past 11, judging by the sun. The man had been right. Their Sensei was hours late. She stretched further, the joints popping as Naruto and Sasuke cringed.

"Hi, folks. Good morning."

"You're late!" Naruto practically screamed.

"Well, a black cat crossed my path, you see." Kakashi said cheerfully. The boys looked highly unimpressed while the sole female looked slightly depressed.

"He was right. You're a liar too." Sakura said dazedly. Kakashi's eyes narrowed.

'Who told her that? ...On second thoughts, I guess anybody could have told her that.' Kakashi cleared his throat as he focused his attention back to the three teens. He set down an alarm clock and started it.

Kakashi grinned under his mask and held up two bells. "Today, you guys have until noon to try and take these bells from me. Those who fail will not get lunch and will be tied to the tree stumps over there and watch me eat lunch right in front of your eyes."

The three genin were all looking at him with a slight glare as they held their stomachs.

"Wait... Why only two bells?" Sakura asked, head tilting as she looked at the bells more closely. Yep, there were most definitely only two.

"Ah. As you can see, two bells means that at least one person will be tied to the stumps. That one person who fails... will be returned to the Academy of course. But that can be one person, or all three of you. You can use whatever you'd like. You guys won't be able to get them unless you come with the intent to kill."

"But isn't this unfair, Sensei?" Naruto whined.

"In this world, those who aren't skilled enough tend to complain more. Well, just ignore the loser... Begin when I give you the 'go' signal." Kakashi said lazily. On the other hand, Naruto's blood boiled at being called loser. His hand immediately pulled out a kunai and he ran at the silver-haired man. Kakashi easily caught his hand. In the blink of an eye, before even Naruto realized what was going on, his hand was twisted behind him, and the kunai in his hand was held right behind his head. "Don't be so hasty." Kakashi scolded. "I haven't even said start." Sakura and Sasuke flinched backwards.

'So this is a Jonin,' Sasuke thought with gritted teeth.

"Well. At least you came with the intent to kill. I'm going to guess, that this is going to be fun~" Kakashi said, looking at their determined faces. "Alright then, start!" The three genin scattered. At least Sakura and Sasuke did. The fundamental principle of being a ninja was to hide and conceal their presence. Kakashi sighed and put a hand over his mask. "Aren't you going to run?"

"Nope! Running is for losers and I ain't no loser! So let's have a fight fair and square!" Kakashi stared at Naruto blankly. Kakashi inwardly smacked his head.

'Minato-sensei, Kushina-san, I bet you're both rolling in your grave right now…' he rushed headfirst, with the intent of getting revenge for being called a loser.

Sakura watched from her place among the branches of a tree as Naruto fought Kakashi. She inwardly smacked herself once her teacher pulled out an orange book, much to Naruto's chargin. Something was definitely off about this test. Sakura snapped her attention back to the ongoing 'battle' as Kakashi suddenly reappeared behind Naruto, hands in a tiger seal. Sakura felt her body move on its own. In a speed she didn't know she was capable of, she tackled Naruto before dragging him back into the treeline.

Kakashi smirked. 'Looks like the girl grasped the concept… Hmph. I wasn't really going to hurt him. Just scar him for life maybe.' Kakashi snickered to himself at the last part. He began walking towards the trees, hand in pocket and book shoved just inches away from his face. It was time he find the broody little Uchiha.

Sakura in the meantime, had finally let go of Naruto after she felt like they were a safe distance away. "Are you okay?" She asked breathlessly. Naruto stared at her for a moment before his mouth split into a wide grin.

"Thanks Sakura-chan!" he said cheerfully but then he pouted, "Hey, but why'd ya save me..?"

Sakura giggled and chirped, "I never leave one of my friends behind, even at the cost of my own life!"

Naruto's expression literally screamed 'You are a god.'

Sakura grinned before beckoning Naruto to follow. "Come on! Let's find Sasuke and get those bells…!"

Naruto frowned at this. "Why..? He only has two bells, and Teme has a super huge stick up his as-" Naruto abruptly cut himself as Sakura cast him a stern look for his language.

Sakura was silent for a while before she finally replied, "He's our teammate now, just like you are."

And that was that. After searching for a couple of minutes, they found Sasuke engaging Kakashi in taijutsu. Sakura could practically hear Naruto's jealousy as Sasuke's hand brushed against the bells. Sakura and Naruto watched with hidden admiration as Sasuke's hands flickered through a set of seals before he blew out an enormous fireball that was definitely not taught in the Academy. When the fireball finally receded, the elusive jonin was no where in sight. Sasuke seemed visibly distressed as his head whipped back and forth, searching for the missing man. Sakura caught the ground moving underneath Sasuke out of the corner of her eye as a hand reached out to grip Sasuke's ankle. Sakura's hand immediately shot for a kunai which she immediately threw towards the protruding wrist. Another kunai with wire tied to the ring was tossed not milliseconds after the first one across the clearing. With one tug, the kunai wrapped around the branch. Adjusting herself high enough on the wire, she swung down, using the wire like a vine, and grabbed Sasuke before their sensei could make another attempt to grab the boy again. This all happened within a few seconds. Kakashi popped up from the ground as he felt the three genin's chakra receding.

'Not bad,' he mused as he whipped out his Icha Icha Paradise. Knowing that the three would be back, Kakashi quickly flipped back to the page he had left off of. A blush quickly made its way onto his cheeks as he read one of the more descriptive part of the orange novel.

* * *

When the three genin finally stopped to catch their breaths, Sasuke practically stomped up to Sakura with a glare on his face.

"What the hell, Shusa?! Don't butt into other people's battles!"

Sakura opened her mouth when Naruto angrily yelled, "Shouldn't you be thanking her, Teme!? Why are you so ungrateful?! She saved your a-!" Sakura cut in abruptly.

"Guys. We need to work together for us to get the bells!" Sasuke, frustrated from his failed attempt, rounded on Sakura angrily.

"If you haven't noticed, we have two bells..!"

Sakura narrowed her eyes and her armor rattled angrily. "Have you ever seen a genin team with groups of two?! He's baiting us! That's the whole point of the test."

"And if you're wrong…?"

"I'll go back to the Academy."

The two boys' eyes widened, and Naruto protested vehemently. Sakura narrowed her eyes. "I am going to be the next God of Shinobi. That doesn't just mean power. It means heart too." Sasuke let out an exhale of breath but said nothing else. Sakura and Naruto knew that that was as good as a 'fine' they were going to get from the Uchiha. Sakura smirked at their compliance. "Now, I have a plan."

...

Kakashi smirked under his mask, looking up at the three genin that suddenly burst from the trees. Sasuke, along with Naruto and several of his clones, charged at Kakashi in order to occupy both of the Jonin's hands. Sakura jumped up, landing on one of the Naruto's back, using it as somewhat of a launch pad as she soared into the sky. Sasuke, who was distracting Kakashi, quickly retreated as Sakura fell from the sky. Her leg was outstretched, ready to delived an axe kick, taking full advantage of the momentum she had built up. Kakashi squinted his one visible eye as the sun temporarily blinded him. Even so, his arm came up and blocked her kick easily.

Kakashi grunted as the kick felt unexpectedly heavy for a girl of her size. Despite the bulky armor that the girl donned, she was remarkably flexible. He caught both of her wrists, but she only grinned mischievously. Spotting the two teens coming behind him, he swung her around, throwing her toward their direction. Kakashi's eyes temporarily widened his eyes in horror when Sasuke threw several kunai and shruiken at the girl flying towards them. Kakashi's mind was racing and his heart beat erratically as he was temporarily swallowed by his nightmares. Kakashi took a single step before he caught the girl's hands quickly flashing through the seals for the Kawarimi Jutsu.

Sasuke's weapons had neutralized the coming log enough for both him and Naruto to veer around it and assault their slightly frazzled Sensei. Kakashi was still a bit out of it to realize that Sasuke's movements were a bit clumsier than usual. Just as he pushed both boys off balance, he felt a fireball coming at him sharply from the side. Both boys lunged at him suddenly, gripping his arms and waist. With no other choice, he leapt backwards into the air with what he now recognized as shadow clones clinging to him. Kakashi's eyes flashed in surprise as one clone dispersed into a cloud of smoke, and the other was replaced by a grinning pink haired girl. Her katana arced sideways, aiming for the bells on his waist.

Sakura groaned as she felt her katana sink into the log where their sensei had once been. The alarm went off, signifying that time was up.

"Well, well. I guess none of you pass, but I must say that you all show potential. How about I let you guys choose among yourselves who will be going back to the Academy?"

Naruto and Sasuke both looked at Sakura who merely smiled. She motioned for Kakashi to give her the bells. Kakashi tossed her the bells, watching closely as she played with them in her hand for a few seconds, before flinging the bells at Naruto and Sasuke. She started walking away, as both Naruto and Sasuke started after her. Kakashi felt something swell as a chuckle formed in his throat. "You all...!" They all turned to him as his aura seemed to darken. The sudden pressure just as quickly dissipated as his eyes curved happily.

"Pass!"

* * *

 **A/N: Chapter 2 is done! That took a lot longer than I thought it would... I am going to try and get out at least one chapter for both Dawn and Akatuski's Kage by the end of this week, so worry not. Anyways, I am horrendous at writing fight scenes as I have discovered and it is kind of difficult writing Sakura with this massive personality change. Considering she is self-confident, Inner will not be included in this fic. I also thank those who pointed out some of my grammar mistakes (I'm not sure if they're fixed properly), but I did try harder this time. Keep in mind that I am editing the original story and merging it with some of my own ideas, so the first few chapters are most likely going to be rough. Hope you liked this chapter, review and tell me what you think.**

 **~Tokumei Yurei**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3:**

...

...

 _Naruto and Sasuke both looked at Sakura who merely smiled. She motioned for Kakashi to give her the bells. Kakashi tossed her the bells, watching closely as she played with them in her hand for a few seconds, before flinging the bells at Naruto and Sasuke. She started walking away, as both Naruto and Sasuke started after her. Kakashi felt something swell as a chuckle formed in his throat. "You all...!" They all turned to him as his aura seemed to darken. The sudden pressure just as quickly dissipated as his eyes curved happily._

 _"Pass!"_

* * *

The boys somewhat confused and outraged expressions were immensely satisfying. He just might enjoy teaching these students if their reactions were anything to go by. His sole female student, however, looked quite pleased with herself.

"Now then, Sakura. You seemed to have figured out the whole point of this. Mind sharing?" She gave a brief nod.

"First off, we are genin who have just graduated from the Academy. No matter how skilled we may have been for our age, there would have been no way we could have beaten you. There's a huge difference in rank, skill, and experience. Second, genin teams consisted of a jonin and three students, not two. Third, he had said 9 graduates would pass; three _teams_ would pass. Two member teams don't seem possible if there are 9 graduates. And finally, I heard that you failed 3 genin teams already. I found it strange how the word 'team' came up again and assuming they received the same test as us, it was an all or nothing deal. Besides, I would never ditch my future teammates, Kakashi- _sensei_ ~"

Kakashi stared at her silently. There was something about her that reminded him of Obito. His hand reached out to lightly ruffle her hair.

"Looks like the kunoichi of this team is the cleverest~" Kakashi praised, ignoring the girl's protest of 'Shinobi, not kunoichi!' "That's correct. The whole point of this test was teamwork. The reason there were two bells was to make you fight amongst yourselves. The purpose was to see if you could forget your personal interests under these circumstances and successfully work together. However...

"Naruto! You were just running around by yourself! Sasuke! You assumed that the others would get in the way and tried to do everything by yourself. Superior individual ability is important in being a ninja. But, what's more important is teamwork. Individual play can put you and you comrades in danger, and even get you killed. For example..." Kakashi disappeared and reappeared behind Sakura with a kunai held at the skin of her neck. "Naruo! Kill Sasuke or Sakura dies!"

"...EH!? WHAT!? THERE'S NO WAY IN HELL! TEME'S A TEME BUT..." Naruto looked conflicted as his eyes darted between his two teammates.

"See? In a hostage situation, you will face tough choices and possibly die. You will be risking your lives." Kakashi tucked his kunai giving his student an apologetic look. She accepted with a nod as he walked away. He approached the stone that had an endless amount of names that covered the front. Sakura's eyes widened in understanding. Kakashi's hand gently rested upon the stone. "Look at this. The numerous names carved on this stone. These are ninjas who are recognized as heroes of the village." Naruto perked up at the work.

"Hey, hey, hey! I've decided to get my name carved on that stone too! Hero! That;s what I'll become!" Sasuke let out a sound of annoyance at the blonde's screams. Sakura turned her head away. She knew what was coming. Kakashi continued speaking, his hands shoved deeply into his pockets to hide his clenched fists.

"But.. They aren't just normal heroes..."

"Really?! What kind are they then!?" Naruto whined.

"..."

"What!? Come on tell me!"

"They-"

"They are all heroes who died in the line of duty." Sakura interrupted, her voice solemn. She didn't look to see Naruto's shocked and remorseful expression. "Those who have protected and fought for Konoha. Essentially ninja who have been killed in action or became missing in action."

"My best friend's name is also carved here." Kakashi added with sorrow lacing his voice. He could the lesson sinking into the three. "Come. Let me show you something."

* * *

The three genin trudged silently behind their instructor as he led them to the graveyard. There, rows upon rows of stone slabs with names engraved on their surface greeted them. These were the graves of the nin who had bodies or body parts left to be buried. There were flowers scattered here and there, some old, and some withering and dying.

At the forefront of the graves was the Will of Fire symbol that the three had once visited on a class field trip. Sakura knew that the name of some of Konoha's legendary heroes were also engraved under the symbol. However, their destination was neither of the two. Instead of leading them to a grave, the silver haired man began leading them to a quiet, secluded corner where a couple of trees grew.

They passed a ninja who nodded in acknowledgement at Kakashi, and gazed at the three genin trailing behind him. The man disappeared a few seconds later, and suddenly, they were the only ones in the grave yard. When they reached the small group of trees, they could see a stone erected upright with a smaller ring of stones encircling it. It looked like a... grave?

"There are some who put their lives at risk, fought for this village, and saved their comrades, but they weren't given a heroes' burial, let alone an ordinary grave." Kakashi stated softly as he stared down at the stone. Naruto swallowed.

"This person... Why isn't this person with the others?"

"...During an extremely difficult mission, he was the leader of the team that infiltrated enemy territory. There, he was faced with a difficult choice. Continue with the mission and sacrifice the lives of his teammates, or to abandon the mission to save his comrades."

"And he chose his comrades." Naruto said solemnly.

"Yes, he did. He cancelled the mission in order to save his friends."

"I knew it!" Naruto cheered. Kakashi stepped forward.

"But, the village suffered huge losses. He was held responsible for this and blamed for his actions. Even the men who he had saved criticized him. In the end, the hurt took its toll both mentally and physically..." Kakashi paused as he took a breath. "And he took his own life." Kakashi could hear Naruto sputtering how that was nonsense, and Sasuke reprimanding him that this was what they were taught as a shinobi; the mission took priority above all else.

"You know... In the shinobi world, those that don't follow the rules are scum. But..." Kakashi turned to look each genin in the eye.

"Those who abandon their friends are worse than scum!" Each teen had varying expressions on their faces, contemplating what their teacher had told them. Silence surrounded them, and the wind brushed by, sending chills up the genins' spines. Kakashi suddenly broke the somewhat somber mood as he cheerfully said, "Alright! That's it for today! We'll meet tomorrow at the same place and same time. Until then, train or something. Dismissed!"

Naruto was the first to leave, followed by a moody Sasuke. Kakashi watched them leave, hoping that what he told them had sunk in. Especially for Sasuke who reminded Kakashi of himself when he was young. When he turned back, he was surprised to see his female student kneeling before the grave with her hands held in prayer. She finished and rose gracefully despite the armor that she wore. She too started walking away. Kakashi took a moment to appraise her before he turned back to the makeshift grave.

"You know, Kakashi-sensei..." Kakashi turned his head questioningly towards the back of his student who had stopped a couple of feet away.

"I believe that the White Fang was a true hero..." Kakashi's eyes widened considerably. Because those same exact words had left the mouth of his former teammate. And for the strangest reason, Kakashi could see not the pink haired girl with red armor, but Uchiha Obito with his funky goggles and outfit. Kakashi almost reached out to grab the boy. To apologize. To apologize for everything.

"I also believe that the choice he made that day was the right one. I've heard the stories and rumors, and I've read a lot about it too, but no matter what anyone says... Too me, he was a real hero. Someone who did what he thought was right, even if was at the risk of his own reputation and life." Sakura walked away, leaving her teacher behind.

"It's truly an honor to be taught by you. Hatake Kakashi."

* * *

 **A/N: A chapter done! Man... I'm so lazy =o=. There's so much school work though and well... yeah. Sorry. But I worked like all day on this since things are going to get real busy again soon.** **Also, thank you to any reviews, they really motivated me to get myself in gear.**

 **And before anyone complains, Sakura did have a pretty long monologue where she explains her reasoning. However, she was supposed to be smart in the original Naruto story, but they never expanded on it with the whole 'Sasuke-kun' and then Shikamaru with his IQ of over 200, and I just hated that. Sakura is serious because the topic of the whole thing isn't really anything to joke about. I also incorporated the little grave scene for Sakumo, it was from Episode 400 something, part of the fillers. And in this story, Sakumo Hatake is someone Sakura really looks up to, hence the whole thing with Kakashi. Maybe I overdid it with the Obito part but I always thought it was cool when they did things like that in the anime.**

 **Most of the lines, if you've noticed, are pulled directly from the manga and anime (like some of the other stories). I can't take credit for it, but there are lines that just can't be reworded or replaced you know? It's just way too good, and when I went back to read the first chapters... and I want to keep this consistent to the story line when possible. Of course there will be major changes~**

 **Hope you like it, it was pretty rushed since I wanted to get it out (really need to work on my other stories) so there might be a few errors here and there. Review and tell me what you think~**

 **~Tokumei Yurei**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4:**

...

...

"Kantoku-san, Kantoku-san~!" Sakura squealed earning her a glare from the older shinobi. "I passed the test! I'm now an official genin!"

"Good for you, girl. Now please, shut up. You're disturbing other people." Sakura slapped her hands over her mouth, but her eyes were still gleaming with excitement.

"Our training starts tomorrow," Sakura said in a much quieter voice. "Ne, ne, isn't that great!"

"Absolutely wonderful," Kantoku intoned dryly. Sakura pouted at the man's sarcasm. "Well, anyhow... Good job," Kantoku said with a sigh, lightly patting the girl's head. She grinned widely at him.

"Just you wait, Kantoku-san! I'll become the next God of Shinobi for sure!" Sakura ran out ignoring the man's 'Don't run in the library you brat!'. Kantoku watched the girl go with light fondness. She was probably going to go tell Heiki, who ran the weapons store she frequented, and just about everyone she knew of her new status.

"Ah, I was sure she wanted to look up Genma in the Bingo Book... That kid's attention span sometimes, I swear."

* * *

The next day, Sakura was the first to arrive at the training grounds. Sakura ditched her bag next to a training post as she started stretching, then starting to practice some katas against one of the wooden posts. The movements were much slower considering the added weight of the armor. Sakura didn't blink when a grumpy looking Sasuke approached.

"Ohayo, Sasuke! Lovely morning isn't it?" Sasuke grunted. Seeing as Sakura was already training, Sasuke forced himself to move and start practicing before their Sensei came as well. There was no way he was getting showed up by some circus freak. Naruto, of course, was the last to stumble into the training grounds, still rubbing the sleep out of his eyes.

"Ohayo, Naruto! Lovely morning isn't it?" Sakura intoned cheerfully.

Sasuke twitched slightly from his spot in the training ground. Did she just use the same exact greeting she had done for him? For some reason, it pissed him off.

"Ohayo, Sakura-chan. And Teme," Naruto added, almost as an afterthought. Sasuke ignored him.

"You should move around and get you body warmed up a bit, Naruto. It'll wake you up a bit." Naruto mumbled a response but moved to follow her directions anyway.

The three genin trained silently for the most part, until Naruto had deemed the silence too oppressing and began chattering about the new flavors of ramen that had come out in the convenience stores. Sakura chattered right back at Naruto, all the while beating at the training post, and the two compared which flavor of cup ramen was the best.

"I can't believe you caught the Dobe's obsession for that crap."

"Screw you, Teme! Ramen is the bestest food in the entire world!"

"It's just best, Naruto," said Sakura with a small smile. "And since Naruto is my friend, I thought it would be best to try out what interested him so that I could understand him better. I admit though ramen does taste quite good." Naruto beamed proudly. "But I still think that dango takes the top spot."

For some strange reason, Sasuke felt hatred swelling at her words, and some darker part of him started slyly whispering at him. Her talk about peace, the way she had spoken to him as if her were a child when he spoke of revenge, and the like for dango. Sasuke gritted his teeth. 'Why does it remind me of _him_?' Sasuke thought silently. His next hit harder than it should have and he felt blood trickle across his knuckles. Sasuke panted as he tried to get his hatred under control. The two looked nothing alike. They were nothing alike. 'Stop staring at me like your actually worried!' Sasuke screamed in his head as he saw Sakura stare at his bloody fist with concern. Sakura caught his wild look and paused mid-step, allowing to Sasuke slowly calm down.

"Oi, Teme. What happened? You okay?"

"Shut up, Dobe." Naruto's enraged reaction nearly made Sasuke smirk; Naruto was way too predictable. During this exchange, Sakura had already closed in on Sasuke until she stood just a few feet away. Slowly, she raised her arm, offering the bandages she was holding. Sasuke considered swatting her away, but wounds on his hands made itself known with a painful throb. Seeing that she was allowing him to bandage the wounds himself, Sasuke grudgingly accepted the bandages. Sakura observed as Sasuke skillfully wrapped the bandages and deemed him fine enough on his own. She sauntered back near Naruto who had calmed down.

"Ne, Sakura-chan. Kakashi-sensei's going to be late again isn't he?" Naruto said as he glanced at the sun that had risen way past the horizon.

"Most likely," Sakura said with a small sigh. "Anyway, since it's pretty much morning, and Kakashi-sensei's not going to be here for a while, how does a light breakfast sound?" Naruto cheered.

"Alright! Ramen for breakfast!"

"Naruto. Please no. Ramen is a bit heavy for breakfast and eating that much will you stomach cramps later. I did buy some nutrient bars yesterday, though. Would you like some." After a few short moments, Naruto agreed. Sakura handed two of the packets to Naruto who accepted it gratefully.

"Sasuke-san!"

Sasuke snatched the objects flying towards him in one hand. Nutrient bars? Sasuke looked questioningly at his female teammate but she had already pulled out her own and was chewing through her first bar. Sasuke stared at the two packets before he gave in to temptation and ate. After all, it was hard to get any kind of food when they had to arrive at the training ground so early in the morning. As thankful as he was for the food, it did not override the fact that he had received something from Sakura. Again. Sasuke paused mid-chew as he once again stared at the package. On the corner of the package where his hand had been previously covering were the words: 100% Real Tomato.

'What the hell,' Sasuke thought. 'How did she... Scratch that where the hell does she find this kind of stuff? There's no such thing as tomato flavored nutrient bars!'

=o=

"Yo!"

"YOU'RE LATE!" Naruto screamed.

"Well, you see. I saw an old lady crossing the streets and offered to carry her stuff for her-"

"LIAR!" Kakashi coughed.

"Anyway, we'll have our training sessions in the mornings, take a mission or two, and then you're free to do whatever you want." Sakura frowned.

"Ano, Kakashi-sensei. That sounds terribly inefficient and we're not going to get much better if that's all there's going to be. Aren't you supposed to teach us?" Sakura asked slightly tilting her head.

"Ah, of course Sakura," said Kakashi as he rubbed the back of his head sheepishly. Inwardly, Kakashi was panicking. 'What am I supposed to do?! Back then, we pretty much trained ourselves because of the war and Minato-sensei only ran through team training sessions when he had time! What am I supposed to teach them?' Kakashi composed himself. "You see... I was hoping that you would train yourselves and then once a week we would have a... uh... group training session to see if you've improved...?" Kakashi winced at how the last part came out as more of a question and the boys were shooting him suspicious looks.

"I see... That's a pretty good idea! I'm guessing that you'll go around giving us advice as we train, right?" Sakura said as her face split into a grin.

"Uh... Right."

"Yosh! I'll work hard and I'll improve by leaps and bounds every week!" Sakura enthusiastically punched a fist in the air.

"Yeah! I'll become super strong just you wait, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cheered alongside Sakura. Sasuke did not look convinced by Kakashi's excuse but mumbled his agreement. He was fine with having time to train by himself. The other two would drag him down.

...

 _The Next Day: Team Picture Day_

...

"Are you ready yet?" The old man asked irritably.

"Hai, hai." Kakashi answered as he pulled apart his two arguing students away from each other.

"Yosh! To Team 7!" Sakura shouted posing with a fist in the air. Kakashi who was right behind Sakura sighed as he gently lowered her arm.

"Sakura, you're covering my face." Naruto snickered at this.

"What face, Kakashi-sensei? The only thing that's visible is your left eye!" Naruto shouted, pointing at Kakashi's exposed eye.

"All the more important it is for me to be in the picture as much as possible." Kakashi said cheerfully.

"I don't have all day, you know? Just hurry and take the god dang picture." The man ground out. Naruto and Sasuke glanced at each other before looking away. Both boys stood at a slight distance as if trying to be as far away from each other as possible.

"Come on," Kakashi sighed as he grabbed both of their heads. "Look at the camera and smile!" Kakashi said at the same moment Sakura wrapped both arms on either boys' neck pulling them down. Both of her hands flashed the peace sign as she and Kakashi grinned at the camera. The camera flashed, catching the image of two stunned boys with a gloved hand on each of their heads. Both were leaned towards the girl in the center who had tugged them closer together.

* * *

 _A week later..._

 _..._

 _..._

"Sakura, at Point C."

"...Naruto here. I'm at point A."

"You're slow, Naruto." Kakashi drawled.

"Target is in sight," the final member of the team announced.

"Good. What is the distance from you and the target."

"Five meters. I got this!" Naruto said as quietly as he could.

"I'm ready as well." Sasuke added.

"All good to go, Kakashi-sensei."

"Alright then, do it!" Kakashi heard Naruto's battle cry over the headset as his three students jumped at the target. Kakashi wince as he heard Naruto's loud 'Gotcha!' followed by the hisses of a cat and Naruto's loud yowls. "Does the target have a ribbon on its right ear? Is it our target Tora."

"Yeah. It's the right one alright." Sasuke replied.

"Good. Mission capture lost pet 'Tora', is complete!"

"Ow! You stupid cat!"

"Naruto, are you okay?!"

(=T^T=)

"Oh! My cute little Tora I was worried to death!" Madame Shijimi shouted as she squeezed said cat to death.

"Serves him right." Naruto mumbled quietly.

'No wonder that cat ran away,' Sakura thought. The Sandaime stared at the scene blankly before staring at his paper again.

"Now then... The next mission for Team 7 will be... An errand in the next town over to babysit the chief councilor's son... And digging potatoes-"

"Nooo! No thank you!" Naruto shouted making an 'x' shape with his arms. "I want to do a much more exciting mission! Give us something more interesting!" Sasuke and Sakura agreed silently. They had been going at this for nearly a week now.

'Geh. I knew he would get impatient soon.' Kakashi thought to himself. It was a miracle Naruto had lasted as long as he did.

"YOU FOOL!" Iruka practically screamed as he leapt up. "You're still a rookie! A bottom rookie in fact! Everybody must climb the ladder by gaining experience from simple missions.

"But all we've been doing is all these boring missions- Gah!" Naruto fell as Kakashi slammed a fist on his head.

"Knock it off will you, Naruto?" Kakashi said exasperatedly. Naruto may have looked like Minato-sensei, but he was Kushina through and through.

"Naruto, let me explain what a mission is to you," said the Sandaime calmly. "Listen, requests will come into the village everyday. They range from simple babysitting missions to assassinations. All the requests are separated to A, B, C, and D based on the difficulty. Every ninja in the village besides me is divided by ability in the order of Jonin, Chunin, and Genin. We upper members will distribute these missions to those who have abilities that suit the mission. If the mission is a success, the village receives money from the client. You all only just become Genin. The best you can do now is D-rank... Hm?!" Naruto was sitting down with his back turned, conversing with his teammates.

"Yesterday, I had pork bone broth ramen. So maybe today I'll get miso broth? Ne, Sakura-chan do you want to come too?"

"Perhaps. I really don't feel like cooking today... Ne, what about you Sasuke-san?"

"Hn."

"Listen!" Sandaime yelled.

"I-I'm sorry..." Kakashi said as he rubbed his head.

"Man! You always lecture me, Ji-chan! But come on! I've grown up now! I ain't the little prankster you think I am! Hmph!" Naruto turned away pouting. Kakashi sighed as he rubbed his head once again as if to soothe a headache.

'Maa... I'm going to get scolded later.' Kakashi thought offhandedly. Iruka's expression softened and even Sandaime's posture relaxed slightly. Before the Sandaime could speak, the sole female suddenly ducked into a ninety degree bow.

"Gomenasai, Jiji- er... Sandaime-sama! I'm apologize for our rude behavior! Demo... I've worked with Sasuke-san and Naruto already and I feel as if we're ready for a mission of a higher difficulty. And even if things go wrong, our sensei _is_ Kakashi-sensei, and even if his a lying pervert, who is habitually late to all of our team meetings, I know that he'll be able to protect us sufficiently!" Sakura finished. She blinked before glancing at her teacher who had been standing next to her. Kakashi had visibly wilted with every insult and now looked as if his soul had left him. "Kakashi-sensei?! What's wrong?!"

"Is this... how my students perceive me...?"

"Yep." Naruto said.

"Hn."

Sakura winced as she realized how the words had come out. "Sorry about that Kakashi-sensei. I was kind of going off of a third party's opinion." Sandaime chuckled, getting everybody's attention once again.

"Okay, fine!" He attracted surprised glances from everybody in the room. "If you insist... I'll have you do a C-rank mission. You will be acting as bodyguards for someone."

"Really?! Alright! Who? Who? A feudal lord? Or perhaps a princess?!" Naruto exclaimed happily.

"Now, now. Don't get to far ahead of yourself. I'll introduce you now. Could you please come in now?" Four heads simultaneously turned towards the door. The door opened revealing... A sake bottle, and an old man?

"What's this? It's just a bunch of squirts?" The old man said irritably as he took a swig of his alcohol.

"Especially the small one with the idiot face and the girl in that weird armor. What are you, cosplaying? Are you really all ninja?"

"Cosplaying...?" Sakura asked. Naruto laughed.

"Who's the smallest one with the idiot face he's talking about?" Naruto said as he looked back and forth between his two teammates... who were both taller than him...

"I'll kill you!"Naruto screamed.

"You crappy Jiji!" Sakura yelled. Kakashi sighed as he held his two students back.

"What good will it do to kill the old man you're supposed to be guarding, you morons?!"

"Agh! Kakashi-sensei you baka! I'm not going to kill the old man! **I'm going to _obliterate_ his sake so he can _sober up_.** " Sakura yelled. Ignoring both teen's complaints, Tazuna took another swig of his sake with great gusto, before introducing himself.

"I'm Tazuna, veteran bridge builder. You'll be risking your life guarding me to the best of your abilities until I return to my country and complete the bridge!"

"Well that's that then." Kakashi sighed, releasing his two students who fell on their bottoms. They glared at him, which he skillfully ignored. "We leave tomorrow morning. That's alright with you right, Tazuna-san?" The old man grunted.

"Whatever."

"You all should pack for an extended trip. We'll meet at 9:30 a.m. sharp."

"Yeah, yeah. Don't bet late you lying, pervert." Naruto grumbled as he walked out.

"See you then. _Sensei_ " said Sasuke as he too left the room. This was the cue for the rest to start filing our as well, Kakashi noticeably more slouched than when he had come in. Sakura, the last one out paused, and quickly bowed to Hokage with a large grin.

"Thanks bunches, Jiji! Not to worry! I'll prevent Naruto from doing anything stupid to himself." Sakura closed the door behind her. Sarutobi let out a puff from his pipe. To be honest, despite her dream and armor, Sakura did not really remind him of the Shodaime who had been called the God of Shinobi. What she valued was different... she personally reminded him of another young boy instead. Sarutobi inhaled the smoke from his pipe as he closed his eyes.

They were all kids. He truly hoped they would benefit each other. Kakashi out of his self-blame, Sasuke out of his hatred and revenge, Naruto out of his loneliness, and Sakura... out of borderline obsessive selflessness. After all, it might end up breaking them all.

* * *

 **A/N: I'm going to end it there. I really enjoy writing this and I really hope you're enjoying it as well! I think I wrote a lot more than I usually did since things are going to get busy again. Review, tell me what you think! I really enjoy reading your comments and it helps me write the story ^-^.**

 **~Tokumei Yurei**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5:**

...

...

"Whoa! This is so cool!" Naruto exclaimed as his head whipped side to side. "This'll be my first time outside of the village!" The rest of the team stared at the hyperactive blonde.

"Is he really a ninja?" Tazuna asked.

"Ah, well, I _am_ a Jonin so we should be fine." Kakashi rubbed his head sheepishly.

"The cosplaying pipsqueak isn't here." Tazuna pointed out.

"Ah, yes... There's that matter as well-"

"WAAAAAAAAH!" A blur of pink and red passed them, sliding to a stop right beyond the gates. "Safe!"

"Idiot." Sasuke murmered.

"Sakura, you're late." Kakashi said scoldingly. He inwardly winced at how familiar the words felt on his tongue even after all these years.

"Yeah, Sakura-chan! It's our first real mission, and even Kakashi-sensei was on time!" Naruto yelled, walking back towards the group.

"Don't tell me, Shusa, that you perhaps... **_ran into a black cat_**?" Kakashi cast an offended look at his dark-haired student who repeated one of his excuses that he had used not to long ago. Sakura laughed awkwardly as she lifted her head revealing dark circles under her eyes.

"Ah, no, you see... Actually I was so excited about our first mission outside the village and everything, that I couldn't sleep at all. So I decided to make some bentos in my spare time for our mission. I still couldn't fall asleep after packing the bentos so I read some books and just laid in bed, and before I realized it, it was already sunrise. At that point, I thought catching sleep was pointless, so I rechecked my bags a couple of times, and decided to wait until it was time to meet up... And I kinda must have fallen asleep? I rushed out as soon as I could, and halfway here I realized I forgot my bags and I had to run back and get them, and I passed two blocks before I realized that I had forgotten the bentos as well so I had to go get those... Here." Sakura thrust the bentos tied in a cloth towards Kakashi who stared at her exasperatedly. She received strange stares from the other observers as well.

"Shusa," Sasuke muttered under his breath.

'This kid... is potentially even worse than the blonde idiot.' Tazuna thought. Were these really the people that were supposed to protect him?

Kakashi sighed as he gently took the bentos from Sakura. He hesitated, wondering if he should scold her for being late. "Well, I guess lunch will be settled then." Kakashi finally said. After all, if he said anything now, his other students would call him a hypocrite.

"Kakashi-sensei, I can store it in the storage scroll for now if you'd like." Sakura said. Kakashi raised a brow. The Academy didn't really go into depth about storage scrolls and few genin used them unless they had previous training or showed interest in the field. It was more common for shinobi ranked chunin and up to even carry storage scrolls or the like. The topic itself was more for weapon specialists and funjutsu users. Weapon specialists were not common, but they were not rare either. Funjutsu users on the other hand, were extremely rare, much less a skilled funjutsu user. He handed over the bentos and watched with veiled interest as she pulled out a scroll from her bag and unraveled it. He could the see the seals for other materials she had stored next to the empty circle which she had placed the bentos. With a quick hand sign, the stack of lunches disappeared in smoke and the kanji for bento appeared within the seal.

"...Whoa. That was so cool, Sakura-chan! I didn't now you could do that! You gotta teach me how to do that!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Sure, Naruto. Although it might not really be your thing since it does require some degree in chakra control to work efficiently."

"Yes, yes, very impressive. Can we go now? The day will end before we even get a mile from the village at this rate." Tazuna interrupted impatiently. "Believe it or not, I do have to build a bridge, you know?"

"I apologize. Let us go right away," Kakashi said while simultaneously shoving Sakura and Sasuke, who were the closest to him, forward. Sakura stumbled forward a couple of steps while Sasuke had quickly caught his balance and gave his teacher a small glare.

"Yeah! Let's go on an adventure!" Naruto cried loudly, walking ahead of the group with his fist pumping in the air.

* * *

It was around noon and Naruto was still prancing in front of the group like a kid on the field trip. Sasuke was not to far behind, hands shoved in his pockets and eyes occasionally glancing at the tree line. Tazuna stood close behind Sasuke, eyes warily taking in the scenery. Taking the rear was Kakashi and Sakura who walked with a light step as she took in the outside world around her.

"Ne, Sakura. Where'd you learn how to use storage scrolls? Genin usually don't have them or know how to use one."

"Hm? Oh, Heiki-san taught me a long time ago! He promised to teach me how to use it if I won the bet. I won of course." Sakura said with a wide smile. Kakashi would have gaped at her if he hadn't been who he was.

"Heiki? You mean Heiki that hardass? He rarely gives out handouts much less an offer to teach anybody... Just what kind of bet did you make?" Kakashi asked appalled. Heiki was a veteran of the Third War who had started a weapons shop soon after the war had ended. The weapons and goods there were top quality, but everything there was a bit pricey. The shop itself was well hidden and only higher ranked shinobi really knew about it.

Kakashi knew from experience that the man did not make bargains or give out discounts, and he never sold to anyone who he considered inadequate.

"Uh... It was some sort of target practice thing he set up in one of the training fields. He said if I could show him that I could hit all the targets midair accurately within two weeks, he would teach me how to use it. He gave me that one scroll free as a bonus since they are pretty pricey. But I also promised him that I'd get more things from his store once I became a genin and I received my own pay..." Sakura's voice trailed off. Kakashi didn't know what to say. Based on Sakura's description and seeing as it _was_ Heiki, Kakashi had no doubt that Heiki had pulled that exercise straight from ANBU. To think that Sakura had even completed it at all. Kakashi wanted to inquire further about the subject, but he felt two cloaked chakra signatures further up the road.

Shinobi. Both chunin level at the very least. This was a much more difficult mission than defeating thugs and bandits that might attack them on the road. Kakashi narrowed his eyes briefly at the old man in front of them. Why would the client lie?

After a minute or so, Kakashi spotted the source of the hidden chakra signatures; a puddle that lay near the center of the road. Naruto passed by it without a thought. Sasuke seemed to not notice either. Kakashi's hand twitched in his pocket, ready to defend if the ninja were to suddenly pop out. They didn't. Tazuna walked by safely as well. He glanced at his last student who's eyes briefly flickered to the puddle. Her eyes were back on the road in less than a second, but Kakashi could see that she had noticed as well. Kakashi gently nudged Sakura to go up and tell Naruto to slow down. A meaningless request really. Sakura stared at him in understanding before dashing towards Naruto.

What a smart girl. Kakashi walked past the puddle smoothly. He felt the chakra shift minutely as the ninja began to stir. When he had traveled about a dozen steps, the two ninja broke out of their disguise and leapt out. The chains circled around him before wrapping him in its embrace. He saw the four in front turn around in alarm and he feigned a look of surprise. A moment before -the chains could rip apart his body, he used the Kawarimi no Jutsu to escape into the treeline.

...

...

Naruto felt horror engulf him as he saw his teacher shredded into pieces.

"Kakashi-sensei!" He screamed. He couldn't move even as he felt the two ninja appear behind him.

"The second one," they chorused. Fear held Naruto in place as they approached. The chains whirled in the air, the individual links glinting in the sunlight. The enemy ninja were less than a foot away with the claws outstretched. Naruto could only stare in shock.

The world moved as if it was in slow motion as Naruto forced his arms to move up. He wasn't going to make it in time. _'I'm going to die.'_ Naruto realized.

Naruto's eyes widened as he was pulled backwards by the collar and thrown towards Tazuna while Sakura stepped forward in his place, hand on the katana strapped diagonally across her back. Simultaneously, Sasuke pinned the chain to a tree with a shruiken, then threw a kunai to ensure that it would not tug free. Sasuke neatly landed on their ensared arms and kicked the two ninja. The mist nin both were pushed back by the force, but they used the momentum to disconnect the chains from their arms and circled around Sakura. One ran for Naruto and the bridge builder. The other sliced down at Sakura. Sakura's hand left the blade and immediately countered with the kunai she had been holding with the other hand. She grabbed the clawed arm with her free hand and pulled the nin forward to the side. Caught of guard and balance, the man felt forward and Sakura brought her elbow swiftly down on the nin's neck, effectively knocking him out.

Sakura looked up just in time to see Kakashi who had caught the second nin in a choke hold. Sakura cocked her head slightly as she stared at the rest of her team. Naruto stood in front of Tazuna with a kunai drawn. And Sasuke was standing in front of Naruto with arms outstretched.

"Yo-"

"Pfffft." Sakura covered her mouth to prevent her from laughing outright. "Sasuke-san, you can put your arms down. You look like one of those heroes in the movie, you know? Like the ones who jump in front of their lover to receive the fatal blow."

"Tch." Sasuke immediately dropped his arms and shoved them in his pocket. "Shut it, Shusa."

Kakashi sighed. "Sakura, you're kind of stepping over my moment..."

Naruto stared dumbly at Kakashi. "Then that was..." Naruto's head whipped towards the 'shredded Kakashi'. A pile of cut up logs were scattered on the ground. 'He used substitution?' Naruto thought numbly.

Kakashi walked over and picked up the second nin Sakura had incapacitated. "Sorry I didn't step in earlier, Naruto. Because of me, you got injured, but I didn't think you'd be incapable of moving."

"Eh?!" Sakura was at Naruto's side at an instant. She lifted Naruto's bleeding hand. "When did..." Sakura's eyes widened. When she had tugged Naruto back, had she been a split second to late? "Ah! Sorry, Naruto! Truly! I even knew and I still couldn't protect you..."

"Ie, Sakura-chan. I..." Naruto trailed off, unable to say anything.

"Anyways, good job, Sasuke. Sakura, you were excellent as well."

'I... couldn't do anything... This was Sakura-chan and Sasuke's first real battle... They didn't hesitate at all. Weren't they scared at all? Both of them saved me and they're not the least bit dirty!' Naruto thought, gritting his teeth.

Sasuke turned and smirked at Naruto. "Yo. Are you hurt... scaredy cat?"

"Sasuke!" Naruto screamed in rage, ready to leap at Sasuke. Sakura's firm grip was the only thing keeping him still. Naruto was about to jerk his hand free when he saw Sakura's serious expression. Rare was it that Sakura ever showed that kind of face.

"That wasn't excellent, **Kakashi-sensei**." Sakura growled. "You _knew_. but you didn't come out until later. I... knew as well and Naruto is still injured. Now, Naruto is bleeding and _poisoned_. And Sasuke-san, I ask that you please don't taunt you're teammate for your own amusement."

"Ahaha... Yeah, about that... Naruto, I would try not to move so much or the poison will spread. We'll have to open the wound and drain out the poisoned blood."

"No need." Sakura replied as she brought Naruto's hand towards her mouth. Naruto's face went bright read as he felt Sakura's lips cover his wound.

"S-sakura-chan... what are you..." Naruto stuttered as he felt Sakura draw blood. She spat the blood out to the side.

"Getting rid of the poison." Sakura continued the procedure and Kakashi nodded his approval from his position.

"By the way... Tazuna-san. " Kakashi said.

"W-what is it?" Tazuna asked.

"I have somthing to talk to you about." Kakashi said in an uncharacteristically serious voice.

...

...

"Chunin from the Kirigakure... These ninjas are famous for their persistence in fighting no matter what must be sacrificed." Kakashi recited as he, Tazuna, and Sasuke stared at the two tied up men. Sakura finished removing the poison, and she and Naruto also moved to join the circle.

"How were you able to detect our movements?" One of the tied up shinobi asked. Kakashi nodded towards Sakura, allowing her to take the lead. She sighed, before reverting to her more cheerful self.

"Ne, ne. You know... There aren't usually puddles on the open road on such a clear, sunny day. Especially since it hasn't rained for at least a week. And you were underestimating us too much. Your chakra wasn't completely masked and your killing intent was a bit obvious. Better luck next time, dummies!" Sakura stuck her tongue out. "Ah! Also... Just in case, for Naruto." Sakura stepped forward and started patting the two men down.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" One of the men shouted.

"Oh, shush. You guys used poison, and those who typically coat their weapons with poison tend to carry the antidote as well as a fail safe." Sakura whistled as she pulled out a knife. She pulled it out if its sheath to inspect it. "This is quite nice. Can I keep this?"

"The fuck do you think? Hell no!" The man on the right yelled as he struggled to get the ropes off.

"Fine, fine... Just the antidote then." Sakura said as she pulled out a bottle and a syringe. "It's this right?" Both men turned their heads to the side, glaring. Sakura sighed. "Please don't hold a grudge against us. It was you all that attacked us first after all..." Sakura stepped back.

"Oi. If you knew," said Tazuna as he turned towards Kakashi, "Why did you let the kids deal with it?"

"If I felt like it, I could have killed those two instantly. But... I wanted to know who exactly they were targeting."

"What do you mean?" Tazuna asked cautiously.

"In other words, I needed to determine if one of us were the targets, or you were the target. We did not hear anything about you being targeted by ninja. The mission was to protect you from thieves, gangs, and the lower leveled bad guys. This mission, would be a B-rank at least or higher. The request was to provide you backup until the bridge's completion, but with ninjas involved, this definitely would have been an expensive B-rank." Kakashi repeated as he stared at Tazuna who looked down in shame. "There seems to be a good reason for this, but I don't appreciate being lied to. This is beyond the scope of the mission. That and I would still like to get Naruto's wound checked at the hospital just in case..."

Naruto looked up from his wound questioningly.

"Oh, what a burden." Kakashi said, his voice taking on a slightly mocking tone. "Guess we should really go back to the village." Naruto glared at him. He pulled out a kunai, and much to Sakura's horror, stabbed it into his previous wound. Kakashi's eyes widened in slight surprise as well. That was not what he had expected. Kakashi could see Naruto's face scrunched in pain as well as what seemed to be an internal conflict.

"... I'm going to swear on the pain of my left hand. I'll protect you, old man. With this kunai! The mission will continue!"

"Naruto." Kakashi called. "That's very nice and all but... Anymore, and you'll bleed to death." Silenced engulfed the area. Kakashi squatted close to Naruto with a cheerful disposition. "Things will get rough if you don't stop the bleeding~ Seriously."

"AGGGHHH! NO! NO! I don't want to die yet!" Naruto wailed.

"Kakashi-sensei baka!" Sakura yelled, frustrated. "Stop teasing Naruto, he's not going to die from losing that much blood." She grabbed Naruto as he ran past her. She filled the syringe that she had found along with the antidote and plunged it in Naruto's hand without hesitation. Naruto didn't even have time to flinch before the syringe was discarded and his hand was neatly wrapped in bandages.

"Done."

"Arigato, Sakura-chan. You're really amazing." Naruto said shyly, the tips of his ears burning.

"Ah, don't mention it. This is just some basic first aid that I've practiced. I'm really not that good." Sakura said with a small smile. "It's Naruto who is amazing, stabbing yourself with a kunai and not even yelling in pain... You really almost gave me a heart attack." Sakura patted his bandaged hands before standing up. "Ne, Sensei? We're still going with this mission, right? It would be a shame not to."

"Well..." Kakashi's head turned towards Sasuke who smirked.

"Something of this level isn't even a problem." He said confidently. Sakura smiled.

"Alright then. Let's continue the mission!" Kakashi said. He knew this was reckless of him, and he should probably immediately turn their team around considering the members of the team, but... For some reason, Kakashi's instinct told him that this was right. This was something that must come to pass. His three genin looked happy with his decision either way.

"Hai!" They chorused.

...

 **~Omake~**

...

"Alright~! Lunch time!" Naruto cheered. The group of five found a suitable spot near the road, and Sakura unsealed the stack of bentos. Each of the males thanked Sakura as they received their bentos and wooden chopsticks. They simultaneously opened their bentos.

"Itadaki... masu..?" Three males stared at the bento curiously. Sakura and Naruto, who had been happily digging through the food, looked up in confusion.

"Whash wrong?" She said, mouth still full.

"Well... er... What is this, Sakura?" Kakashi asked.

"Bento. Have a problem?"

"Not at all... It's just..." Kakashi stared at the unusual arrangement of the foods. There was egg covering the rice omelette style with a scarecrow(?) drawn on it with ketchup. Normal enough. However, the side dishes... looked questionable. Kakashi had never seen such, brightly colored food in his life. In fact, he had never seen anything remotely similar to this... food.

"You shouldn't worry, Kakashi-sensei." Naruto said, rice flying out of his mouth at a disgusted Sasuke. "It only looks weird. It actually tastes okay."

"How can you even eat that?" Sasuke asked, looking at the food as if it was poison.

"Sakura-chan's packed me lunch a bunch of times back in the Academy."

"If you don't want it, you can give it back." Sakura said with a smile. Tazuna, Kakashi, and Sasuke all felt alarms going off.

"...We're fine, Sakura. Itadakimasu." Kakashi said politely as he used his chopsticks to scoop up the safest food item: the egg. He popped it in his mouth the moment that everybody was looking away.

...It was good.

* * *

 **A/N: God, I should really not be doing this. All these tests and exams and I'm just... Anyway, hope you enjoyed. Thanks to everyone who left a review, I really appreciated it. There were some comments on the roughness of the previous chapter... Yeah, maybe I should have expanded and developed it a bit more like I'm doing to Dawn, but I'm kind of following canon and I know from experience that going into depth about training is sometimes... a bit dull. I just realllly want to get to the Wave Arc, but I promise to try and add more development and smooth things out. Also, I added something to the previous chapter, the picture the teams need to take. I did try to smooth out the last chapter, but I think it's still pretty choppy. If you see any errors or typos, feel free to tell. It'd be more embarrassing if I just left it..**

 **~Tokumei Yurei**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6:**

Sakura's head swerved around, taking in the dull surroundings.

"There's so much fog I can barely see in front of us," Sakura said in quiet wonderment. "Hey, Oji-san, is it always like this?" She asked turning to the man currently rowing the boat.

"Some days," came the short and terse reply. Silence once again engulfed the occupants of the boat. Naruto had been miraculously quiet since they had been attacked and was sulking at the bow. The man suddenly spoke again. "The bridge will be visible soon. Once we reach the side of the bridge, we will be in Nami no Kuni."

And sure enough, a sudden large shadow was discernible through the thick fog which took the shape of a very large, unfinished bridge. As they got closer, they could spot the equipment and materials on top of the bridge, but no workers seemed to be present.

"Wow! It's huge!" Naruto suddenly burst out, scaring the rest of his companions.

"Hey! Keep it down!" The man rowing the boat said in a hushed whisper. "I took this boat under the cover of fog. I even cut the engine and am rowing the boat by hand instead. If we get caught, we'll be in for some major trouble."

Naruto's hands covered his mouth and the rest of the shinobi shifted, slightly unsettled at atmosphere.

"Tazuna-san. I would like to ask you something before we make it to land." Kakashi said. "The identity of you assailants as well as the reason they are after your life. If you do not tell us, our mission may end once we reach the pier."

 _'Not only did he phrase it as a question, but he added a threat to ensure an answer,'_ Sakura thought, tucking in the tactic for future reference.

"It appears I have no choice but to tell you. No, not only that, I want you to hear this. As you probably know, this may be well beyond the scope of your mission. I'm being targeted by a terrible and influential man."

"Terrifying man? Who?" Kakashi prompted. Civilians' definitions of terrifying were very imprecise after all. To civilians, a large wild boar was terrifying. To most ninja, that would have been a D-rank, maybe an easy C-rank. But in the case that they had been ambushed by chunin-level Mist-nin...

Tazuna was silent for a bit as if considering his words.

"You've probably heard his name at least once before."

"Get on with it old man," Sakura grumbled. "No need for the extra dramatics." Tazuna gave her a brief scalding look before sobering up.

"A shipping magnate by the name of Gato." Kakashi's visible eye widened.

"What? Gato... of the Gato Company?" Kakashi asked, stunned.

"Never heard of him." Sakura said, slightly disappointed with the turnout.

"Me neither." Naruto chimed in.

"Hn," Sasuke said in what might have been a noise of agreement.

"I mean, who the heck is so arrogant and self-absorbed that they would name their own company after themselves?" Sakura said.

"He's one of the world's richest men... We are talking about the same Gato, right?" Kakashi asked Tazuna.

"The very same one. On the surface, he's the chief executive of a shipping company. But underneath, he's a drug trafficker and deals in contraband using gangs and shinobi. Moreover, he runs a despicable business which he uses to take over nations and enterprises without mercy."

"What's contraband?" Naruto whispered to Sakura.

"Their goods that have been brought in illegally. Usually means they bring stuff in without paying or the things they're bringing in are banned." Sakura said with furrowed eyebrows.

"It was one year ago that the retched man started setting his eyes on Nami no Kuni. He used his wealth and violence to come into the country, and before anyone knew it, he had taken complete control of the island's maritime transportation and shipping."

"Which is the worst thing that can happen to Nami no Kuni which is composed of several islands and is isolated so far from the mainland." Sakura said with a grimace.

"Yes, he pretty much controls finance, the government, people... everything." Tazuna agreed.

"You can't control people." Sakura said sourly. "There is bound to be some sort of rebellion. I guess that's part of your reason for building a bridge? Not only would it allow free trade without the use of maritime transportation, effectively lifting Gato's control over the nation, but building a bridge is an act of defiance that would definitely piss him off. No, the very idea of the completion of the bridge must terrify him. No wonder he's going as far as to hire shinobi to kill you..." Sakura said with a hand to her chin. Her head turned as Tazuna stared at her blankly.

"What?" She asked.

"You're... not as stupid as you look."

"Stupid... as I look?" Sakura repeated slowly.

Kakashi pushed his female student to the side before she blew a fuse. She landed on the bottom on the flat of her back with a small 'oomf'. He turned to his client.

"Tazuna-san, there is one thing I don't understand. Your opponent is dangerous enough that he would go far as to hire shinobi. Why did you hide this fact when you made this request?"

Tazuna actually looked slightly ashamed.

"Nami no Kuni is a very poor nation, to the extent even feudal lords have no money. Obviously, us ordinary citizens have no money as well. We cannot possibly afford to request for a B-rank mission or higher," Tazuna said bitterly.

"Of course, if you pull out of the mission once we get ashore, without a doubt, I'll be killed. Before I even make it ashore." Sasuke twitched at the old man's tone. "But this is none of your concern! If I die, my cute grandchild, who's going to turn eight soon, will cry his heart out!"

Sasuke stared at the old man. Was he for real? A turn of Sasuke's head confirmed that the rest of his teammates saw through the old man's ploy as well, but he could see guilt clearly written on the Shusa's face.

"And my daughter will blame you Konoha Shinobi for the rest of her life and grieve in solitude. Oh! But it's not your fault at all!"

Kakashi scratched the metal of his forehead protector. The old man was clearly guilt tripping them into continuing the mission. No doubt it was clearly dangerous, and if one of his students died, he would only have himself to blame... Could he handle another death? Before Kakashi could think too much into it, his female student spoke up again.

"Oi, Jiji. If you wanted us to stay, there were betters way to do it. That was just depressing." Sakura said.

"Could have said please," Naruto murmured.

"I guess we have no choice. Let's continue with the mission," Kakashi said holding his arms out to the side.

He heard his Uchiha student mutter, "Actually, we _do_ have a choice."

"Oh! I am eternally grateful!" Tazuna exclaimed as loud he could afford to given his situation.

The shinobi did not miss the victory sign he made to himself.

"We're nearly there," the boatman said. "It looks like we haven't been noticed up til this point, Tazuna."

"Yeah. Thanks."

Sakura watched with great fascination as they reached the end of the bridge and rowed into one of the several tunnels that connected to the land inside. Dim lights lined the ceiling of the tunnel.

Naruto and Sakura both leaned forward at the bow as the light at the end grew brighter until it revealed...

Sakura gasped in delight. There was no fog covering the waters and the sound of seagulls could be heard. The water was a beautiful blue, and buildings and establishments lined the shores. There were large mangrove trees located closer in the shallower areas adding to the beauty of the scenery.

"Whoa!" Sakura and Naruto chorused. Sasuke nearly rolled his eyes. He let his eyes take in the village as they got closer to the dock. The buildings seemed worn down, and there was an absence of both chatter and people. It was somewhat eerie.

The boat finally reached the boardwalk where they all climbed out. The boatman stayed, saying "This is as far as I go. See you around."

"Yeah. Thanks. You've been a huge help."

"Be careful, and finish that bridge." The man replied, cranking the motor and leaving in a wake of water.

They watched the man as he moved out. The bridge was a bit clearer from this view.

"Alright. Get me home safely."

"We're not at your home yet?!" Naruto yelped.

* * *

 _Ugh._ Kakashi groaned internally. _The next attack won't be Chunin, but elite level Jōnin. Troublesome._

The group had moved from the small port onto a wide path through the woods. Naruto was walking at the front as always, and Sasuke was quick to catch up. Kakashi raised an eye as Naruto shot the stoic boy a look before bounding ahead. The energetic boy stopped, holding a hand over his eyes as he looked from side to side. There was a small rustle.

"There!" Naruto shouted, whipping out a kunai and throwing it into the bushes. They heard the cry of a very shocked animal. Tazuna was staring at Naruto with wide eyes, shaking slightly.

"Heh," Naruto said as got out of his stance. "Just a mouse," he said smoothly as if nothing had happened.

"Baka," Sakura said as she walked up to give him a light smack on his head.

"I don't think you even hit it." Sasuke commented.

"Shut it, Sasuke!"

"Pleases, Naruto!" Kakashi said in slightly higher voice. "Don't use kunai knives so recklessly. It's dangerous!" His hands waved up and down in a calm-down motion.

"Hey brat! Don't go doing stupid stuff!" Tazuna yelled. Naruto ignored him as he continued scoping the tree line.

"I sense a presence over there! No, over here!"

Kakashi suddenly felt a presence as he jerked his head towards a bush. He could tell most of his students felt it as well.

"There!" Naruto shouted again as he threw the kunai in his hand at the bush.

"Idiot. Stop." Sasuke said condescendingly.

Sakura rushed towards the area Naruto had thrown his kunai and jumped the bushes. She walked back out seconds later with a shivering and terrified white rabbit in her arms. She was cooing gently to it, reassuringly petting its fur.

 _That's a snow rabbit. But the fur color... The coat is only supposed to be white during the winter where there is very little sunlight. Which means... it was probably raised indoors without sunlight to be used as a substitution..!_

"Naruto, be more careful," Sakura chided. Kakashi coughed to get their attention. He opened his mouth, ready to tell them to let it go. Sakura immediately turned, shielding the shivering creature.

"No."

"I didn't say anything," Kakashi said in a placating manner.

"You're not allowed to kill him, you're not allowed to eat him. I don't care who's it is, we're keeping it." Sakura glared, leaving her description vague.

"Sakura, you know," Kakashi started.

"No."

"Sakur-"

"No."

"Saku- Argh. Fine." Kakashi sighed running a hand through his hair. Why were kids so difficult? Had this been what Minato-sensei had put up with?

"Usagi! I'm so sorry!" Naruto yelled bounding up to Sakura who handed him his kunai. The rabbit had calmed down considerably although its eyes were still wary.

"Shh! Naruto you'll scare him more." Sakura scolded, but none the less held the rabbit out for Naruto to pet.

Kakashi's head slowly scanned the surroundings before resting on a nearby tree. _Guess they're already here then._

Kakashi's eyes widened as he sensed the abrupt movement come from the tree and a glint of steel erupt from the foliage.

"Everyone, get down!" Kakashi yelled.

Four pairs of eyes swung towards what seemed like a large blade spinning towards them. The reaction was immediate, and they immediately dropped flat on the ground. The large blade whizzed past their heads before arcing, and embedding itself deep into a tree trunk. The group watched in horror as a full grown man appeared out of nowhere and landed on the handle of the large blade with his back facing them.

The man slowly rose and turned his head towards them. His hitai-ate denoted him as a Mist nin, the same as the previous attackers. However, there was a much more dangerous aura about him. The fact that he was even exposing his back to the enemy nin meant he was confident enough in his skills that he could fend them all off easily. Sakura stared warily as she handed over the white rabbit for the old bridge builder to hold. The man standing on the sword seemed... familiar?

"Well, well," Kakashi said jovially, walking towards the man to draw his attention. "If it isn't the nuke nin of the Hidden Mist, Zabuza Momochi!"

Sakura immediately grabbed Sasuke and Naruto who were staring at the man and shoving them closer towards Tazuna. Naruto let out a loud yelp as he was thrown back just as he was about to move forward.

"Sakura-chan! Why'd you do that?" Naruto whined.

"Be quiet, Naruto." Sakura said in a serious voice. "We'll only get in the way here. This guy is on a completely different level from the ones we met yesterday."

Kakashi inwardly thanked his female student.

 _Him being our opponent means..._ Kakashi raised his hand and gripped the bottom of his hitai-ate. _That things might be a little tricky as they are now._

He heard his students shift curiously as they saw him touch the hitai-ate.

"I assume you are Sharingan no Kakashi," Zabuza said. The first words he had said since his arrival. His voice was deep, and slightly rough.

However, this was not what held Sasuke's attention who stared at his teacher with widened eyes. _'What?'_ Sasuke thought, his mind spinning.

"Sorry, but... I'll be taking the Jiji there." Zabuza said. Kakashi lowered his stance at the killing intent that was slowly growing larger.

"Ano, Zabuza-san. I don't think we can do that. You see, if we hand the old man over to you for you to kill, we have to deal with a severely depressed woman and a crybaby child. Not to mention Jiji- er I mean our Hokage would be furious with us for continuing a dangerous mission that we should have immediately returned from and reported and Kakashi-sensei might get fired and we'd be in a whole load of trouble and we'd never get higher than a D-rank ever again, and that's if he doesn't ban us from being ninja forever I mean. I'd rather complete the mission since then Jiji won't completely blow a fuse and give us another really long lecture." Sakura sucked in a huge breath as she finished her speech. "Ah, I really needed to get that out."

Kakashi nearly face-palmed.

Zabuza looked unimpressed.

Sasuke sighed and muttered 'Shusa' under his breath.

Naruto looked panicked as he realized the truth of the pinkette's words. If they failed...

"Just... get in Manji battle formation. Protect Tazuna, and don't interfere in our fight." Kakashi finally said. "That's how teamwork works in this kind of situation."

"Eh?" Naruto said.

"It means the guy is super strong, Naruto. Just listen, and do it for now." The three genin jumped in front of Tazuna, a kunai whipped out. However, their attention was drawn to their sensei who lifted his hitai-ate up.

They saw a closed eyelid marred by a long scar that seemed to stretch from the top of his face, to some place beneath his mask. The eyelid rose revealing a blood red eye with three black tomoe that surrounded the pupil. The three genins' faces displayed varying degrees of shock and emotion.

"Sharingan..." Sakura whispered in slight awe. It was beautiful.

"Fight me," Kakashi said lowly.

"Well now..." Zabuza murmured as he felt excitement rise. "I never expected to see the rumored Sharingan so soon. This is an honor." The Mist-nin turned to face forward. There was no way he could let his guard down.

"Everyone's been saying Sharingan, Sharingan! What is it?!" Naruto demanded. To his surprise, it was Sasuke who answered.

"Sharingan... Power that the light of the eye generates and the pupil emanates. The user of this dōjutsu is said to possess the vision to see through all Genjutsu, Ninjutsu, and Taijutsu, and is able to reflect them. The Sharingan is a type of eye that is unique to the user of the dōjutsu. However, that is not the only power of the Sharingan..." Sasuke trailed off as he recalled the techniques his brother had used.

"Well said," Zabuza said. "That is not all. What's the most frightening is that such an eye can assess an opponent's techniques and copy them.

Naruto looked a bit lost.

"Basically, it's a special eye that only some people have that can see through all attacks and can copy them as well. Some might call it cheating." Sakura summarized for Naruto.

Her eyes narrowed as the area suddenly was enshrouded by a thick mist. Her eyes strayed over to the small lake nearby. Seeing as he was formerly from Kirigakure, who were known for using water-based attack, he was no doubt going to use it to his advantage.

"When I was in the Kirigakure ANBU Black Ops, there was search information about you in the Bingo Book that I carried around. There was also something else in the book... About the man who had copied over one thousand jutsus, Copy Ninja Kakashi."

 _'Kakashi-sensei is actually that incredible of a ninja?'_ Naruto thought. He stared at his teacher with new eyes. "W-wow."

Sasuke however stared at their eccentric teacher with suspicion.

 _'What is going on? The Sharingan... is a special trait that appears only within the Uchiha clan. Could it be that this guy..?'_ Sasuke thought.

"Let's stop the talking here." Zabuza said as he crouched down on the handle. "I have to kill the Jiji immediately. But it seems if I have to defeat you first, Kakashi."

"Please don't," Sakura said dryly under her breath. "Ma... We're in a pretty tricky situation aren't we?"

"You think?" Sasuke hissed.

"You were the one that said something of this level wasn't even a problem."

"Said the one who also wanted to continue."

Their argument was cut short when Zabuza grabbed the sword and pushed off the tree. He landed on top of the water, one arm up, and the other in a hand sign. The water began swirling around and small droplets rose around him.

Kakashi's eyes narrowed at the chakra being emitted.

"Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu." The mist thickened and the Zabuza disappeared without a sound.

"He disappeared?" Naruto asked, stunned.

Kakashi walked forward a bit, away from the group.

"He'll come to eliminate me first." Kakashi stated as his Sharingan flickered over the surroundings.

"What the hell is that guy?!" Naruto demanded.

"Zabuza Momochi. Well, as he said, he's a former ANBU Black Ops member from Kirigakure, and is well known for his silent killing technique." Sakura recited with a glimmer of excitement present in her eye despite the dire situation. "He is able to move silently, without a sound, and before most realize it, they're already in the afterlife. Also, that sword. He was a former member of the Seven Shinboi Swordsman of the Kirigakure."

This earned her a sharp glance from Kakashi, and she shrugged.

"Kantoku-san told me." Sakura said.

Kakashi felt a headache. So she was acquainted with Kantoku as well. How... lovely.

"Correct, Sakura. Now, do not let down your guards. My mastery of the Sharingan isn't perfect yet. Well if we fail, we'll only die."

"How... reassuring" Sakura said with a sigh.

"The mist is getting thicker and thicker!" Naruto panicked. He could hardly see the silver-haired jōnin who was a few feet in front of them.

"Nami no Kuni is surrounded by ocean, so mist rises easily here."

There was eerie silence, and their sensei disappeared from view completely. Sakura closed her eyes, spreading out her senses.

"Eight spots." Sakura's ears twitched. "The larynx, the spine, the lungs, the liver, the jugular, and the subclavian veins. The kidneys, and the heart. Now then... which spot should I aim for?"

Naruto, Sasuke, and Tazuna felt instant chills go up their spines. Kakashi's eyes narrowed. There was no doubt the man was trying to intimidate his genin. He raised his stance and made a hand sign. His chakra whipped around him and caused a blast of air to clear the mist around him and his team.

With the mist slightly cleared, Kakashi could clearly see Sasuke shaking at the intense blood lust surrounding the area. Naruto seemed better off, most likely due to any blood lust aimed at him due to the demon inside him. Sakura didn't seem bothered either. Her eyes were closed in concentration.

Kakashi watched out of the corner of his eye as Sasuke raised his kunai as if to stab himself. Sakura was too out of it, she didn't look like she going to do anything, and Naruto was busy whipping his head around frantically.

"Sasuke," he called softly, drawing the boy's attention. "Don't worry. I'll protect you with my life. I will _not_ allow my comrades to get killed. " Kakashi turned his head to offer the boy a reassuring smile. Or at least what was visible of it. Sasuke's shaking had stopped and his speech had drawn Naruto's attention as well. He could see the slight awe in their eyes.

"I wonder about that.." Zabuza's voice seemed to echo. Sakura's ears and nose twitched.

Kakashi's eyes widened as suddenly Zabuza was standing right between his genin and client. Sakura spun around on her heel, drawing her katana and slicing it downward in one smooth motion.

Zabuza was caught off guard at the speed of the retaliation as well as the fact that one of the genin had enough sense to move. The blade cut his skin, just as his entire form collapsed into a puddle of water. Sakura's eyes flicked back as Zabuza reappeared behind her with his blade drawn. She didn't have time.

Kakashi shunshined right in front of Zabuza and dug a kunai into the man's stomach. His genin leaped back with Tazuna in tow.

They heard liquid bubbling from where Kakashi had stabbed Zabuza, and slowly, drops, then a stream of water fell to the ground. The genin panicked as a third Zabuza appeared behind Kakashi.

"Sensei! Behind you!" Naruto screamed.

Kakashi's eyes widened as the Zabuza he stabbed also erupted into water and the Zabuza behind him swung his blade.

"Die!" Zabuza shouted. He smirked underneath the bandages as his blade tore the man in half horizontally and blood- Zabuza jerked when he realized the jōnin had used a water clone same as he had.

 _'Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu? It can't be!'_ Zabuza thought as he quickly scanned through his memories. _'In this thick mist, he actually copied me?'_

There was a kunai at his neck.

"Don't move." Kakashi said with a glare. "It's over."

"It's over... you say? You don't understand do you? You won't be able to beat me just by making like a monkey. No chance at all." Zabuza cackled. "Though I must say, you're good. Being able to copy my jutsu in the mist. By letting your clone speak as if it was you, you succeeded in distracting me. And you used my own Kirigakure no Jutsu to hide yourself and observe my movements. But... I'm not a fool."

"Kakashi!" Sakura screamed from her spot. "That's not him! It's another Mizu Bunshin! Behind you!"

Kakashi was barely able to duck the swing from the real Zabuza. The nuke nin quickly planted his sword in the ground and used it as leverage so that he could kick Kakashi away.

Zabuza dashed forward with his sword. ' _Now!'_ Zabuza though as he headed towards the falling man. He abruptly slid to a stop as he spotted the tiny blades on the ground. _'Makibishi spikes,'_ he acknowledged. _'How foolish.'_

Kakashi fell into the lake with a loud splash as Zabuza leaped over the spikes to land on top of the water.

"Sensei!" Sakura and Naruto yelled.

"His Taijutsu skills are also extremely good..." Sasuke observed with growing panic.

Kakashi rose to the surface. He lifted his arm with difficulty.

 _'What's with this water? It's awfully heavy...'_ Kakashi thought as he attempted to stand atop of the water.

"Baka!" Sakura screamed. "Get out of the water!" Sakura felt fear rise in her throat. Couldn't he sense the amount of chakra infused with the water?

"Fool. You should listen to the girl. It's the Suirō no Jutsu!" Zabuza said as he finished the last hand sign.

 _'Shit!'_ Kakashi felt the water thicken as it rose and formed a sphere around him. He could hardly move. _'My temporary escape into the water was a huge mistake!'_

"Caught you. It's impossible for you to escape from this prison!" Zabuza said in a smug tone. "Well... I'll deal with you later then. First, I'll finish those guys off first." Zabuza turned to the frightened group. "Mizu Bunshin no Jutsu."

Kakashi grimaced. _'I didn't expect this level of skill._ ' He watched as water in the lake rose, giving form to another Zabuza.

Naruto's eyes were comically wide, and his entire body was shaking.

"You're acting big, wearing a hitai-ate like you're an actual ninja." Zabuza said gruffly. "But a real ninja is one who has hover between life and death numerous times. In other words, only those who are worth being listed in my Bingo Book, are worth being called shinobi." The clone made a hand sign and the mist thickened around him. "Kids like you can't even be called real shinobi."

Naruto flinched as the man disappeared. A foot came out of nowhere and kicked him in the stomach, launching him backwards.

"Naruto!" Sakura moved just in time before Naruto could hit the ground. She glared as the man stepped on Naruto's hitai-ate which had fallen off.

"You're just kids." Zabuza said in a condescending tone. Sakura's gaze fell to the ground, her shoulders shaking.

"You three!" Kakashi suddenly yelled. "Take Tazuna and run! You have no chance against this guy! As long as he has me trapped in this Water Prison, he won't be able to move from here. Also, he shouldn't be able to maintain the Mizu Bunshin far from his real body. In any case, just run for now!"

Sasuke flinched. This was the first time he had seen and heard his Sensei sound so desperate. And seriously? Run away? That option had disappeared the moment he had gotten caught. With Kakashi gone, they would get caught and killed by Zabuza sooner or later. Sasuke's eyes ran over his teammates. _'Either way, we have no options left.'_ Sasuke thought dimly. _'In order to survive, our only option is to rescue Kakashi-sensei...'_

"We'll just have to do it!" Sasuke yelled as he dashed forwards. To his surprise, he was jerked back by a familiar hand on his collar.

"Stop. Sasuke." Sakura's eyes were hidden by her bangs. Her other hand was firmly gripping Naruto who she had practically dragged on the ground. "Rushing in like that with an unsettled mind and without a proper plan, you'll get yourself killed."

"Heh. Seems like the girl is wisest out of the three. You're Sensei is right though. You guys have no ho-"

"Shut up." Sakura hissed. Her head rose, showing eyes filled to the brim with untapped fury. She then directed her glare at the trapped man, pointing at him angrily.

"Do you think running is an option, you idiotic sensei? The man's a killer who eliminated his entire graduating class, and he wasn't even a trainee! You think he'll send us off with flowers and a cheery goodbye?! Damn you for getting caught! You're acting like an inexperienced chunin. And you!" Sakura yelled, turning towards the nuke nin. "Who the hell said that you get to determine who's worth being called a ninja or not? Fucking nobody." Her teammates stared at her with eyes widened in horror. Sakura was never mad. Sakura never cussed.

"Just because we're kids... do you think that means we're not ninja? Does ninja mean that one must sit atop a pile of bloody mountain of corpses to be called a ninja? Don't screw with me! Put this in your Bingo Book, the name of the ninja who's going to be the next God of Shinobi and change this world! The shinobi, Haruno Sakura!" Sakura let go of Sasuke's collar to jerk her thumb at herself. Zabuza twitched in irritation.

"Oh... I see. I assume that's why you're wearing that strange armor? It's the same as the one the Shodaime Hokage wore isn't it?"

"Yeah? Got a problem?" Sakura demanded before kicking the two boys. "Oi, you two. Get it together. You're ninjas aren't you? Man up already and stop doing stupid things. And Naruto, you made a vow on that hand didn't you? You better keep it."

Sasuke snorted. "Stop bossing us around, Shusa. Don't act like you don't do stupid things on a daily basis."

"Yeah, Sakura-chan. I'm not going to run away and I never go back on my word. That's my nindō way!" Naruto said with a grin. With that, he dashed head on towards Zabuza's clone.

"Matte! Usuratonkachi! She just said to not rush in without a plan!" Sasuke groaned.

Sakura flung a couple shuriken just as Naruto was within range of the clone. It raised to sword to block the incoming projectiles while kicking Naruto back towards them.

"Naruto, I said plan. Next time you think of one, do try to make it more elaborate."

"Heh." Naruto stood, blood trickling out of his mouth. Sasuke's eyes widened as he saw the hitai-ate clutched in Naruto's left fist.

"...Dobe."

"Oi, you with no brows... Record this in your Bingo Book as well. The man who will one day become Konohagakure's Hokage..." Naruto tied his headband back on with a grin. "Konoha ninja, Uzumaki Naruto! And the team that's gonna take you down, Team 7!"

Zabuza was practically shaking with anger. The audacity of these kids. Haku was nothing like them.

Kakashi's eyes briefly relaxed, and Tazuna was staring at them with new found respect.

"Sasuke, you should say something interesting too. Make it dramatic." Sakura said, nudging the boy.

"Like hell I will! You do remember Kakashi-sensei is in an inescapable prison of water, right?"

"Temper, temper. Yeah, so about that. I'll leave you two to try and come up with a plan while I defend and distract when necessary." Sakura said with a smile.

"What?! But Sakura-chan-!"

"Naruto, remember. He's underestimating us." Sakura said lowly. "Think of it as an elaborate prank, yeah?" Naruto's eyes widened in understanding.

"Oi, brats. You done whispering over there?"

"Uh, actually. Can you give us maybe five more minutes?" Sakura asked sheepishly. Zabuza's mood darkened.

"What do you think?"

"Well that's a no." Sakura muttered.

"What are you guys doing?! I told you to run! It's obvious what was going to happen the moment I got caught! Hurry! Run!" Kakashi yelled. "Listen to me, remember that our mission is to protect Tazuna! Have you forgotten that?"

Naruto turned to Tazuna who smirked at them.

"Well... This is a seed planted by me. I can't complain and say I want my life spared. Sorry about all this. Go wild."

"Maa, well. You heard the man." Sakura said.

"You three I swear-"

"Who's the one who went on about how those who abandon the rules are trash, but those who abandon their friends are worse than trash? Sensei should just shut up and watch his genin own this guy."

"Sakura, the situation is-" Kakashi was cut off as a kunai sailed past the clone, who made no move to stop it, and was suspended in the sphere of water so that only the hilt was really visible.

"Kakashi-sensei. For real. Shush."

Zabuza raised a brow at her action but dismissed it. The kunai didn't have any exploding tag on it, so it was clearly meant to show their teacher how serious they were being. Not that it mattered.

"You guys better think fast!" Sakura said as she lunged forward with her katana to meet the clone's blade. Sakura swung her blade up to catch Zabuza's downward swing.

"Oh? Not bad at all brat." Zabuza said. The girl had met his sword near the handle where there was less leverage and weight. However, she didn't linger as she pulled her blade out with a screech and spun to hit him. He leaped back easily.

"I take that as a compliment considering it is from you." Sakura said easily. However, Sakura's heart was racing. How long could she buy time for Naruto and Sasuke? She glanced at her trembling arms. And the man's swings were heavy no matter how much she lessened the impact.

"Ne, Zabuza-san. You're a nuke-nin. However, you're headband isn't crossed out, which indicate you have some form of attachment to your home village. Correct?" Sakura asked, both out of curiosity and need for time. "I've heard and read the Kirigakure was undergoing some sort of civil war."

" _Kids_ shouldn't speack about matters they are unfamiliar with." Zabuza said as he disappeared and reappeared behind her. His blade sliced through her middle, causing a brief panic among the others before her body turned into a cut log in a cloud of smoke.

"But it's a common trait for a _ninja_ to be curious, isn't it?" Sakura said cheerfully as she flicked dozens of senbon towards him. Zabuza dodged with ease. The needles were too spaced out. Haku was better.

Zabuza leaped to the side as a ball of fire roared towards him.

"Sasuke, you two have a plan?"

"Yeah. It's a bit of a gamble..."

"Who cares?"

"You shouldn't be chatting when you're still fighting an opponent." Zabuza snarled. He grabbed the two genin by the throat. Sakura lost her grip on her katana as it tumbled to the ground.

"Crap," Sakura choked out. Her hands pried at the hand holding her throat. Zabuza glared at her as he dropped Sasuke and slammed his foot down on the boy.

"You kids seriously need to stop playing around." He kicked Sasuke in the same place he had nailed his foot, drawing a grunt of pain.

"Do you have an obsession with kicking kids? Or can't get-" Sakura was cut off as Zabuza tightened his grip.

"You, young girl, should keep that silver tongue of yours in check. Die." Kakashi gritted his teeth.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" Naruto yelled. Dozens of clones emerged from clouds of smoke. Zabuza looked surprised.

"Ah, Kage Bunshin. And there are quite a few of them too." He lowered the arm that held the girl and raised his free hand to grip his sword. All of the clones drew a kunai.

"Here I go!" All of the Narutos leaped into the air above the water clone with their kunai aimed downwards. Sakura grinned as she grabbed her katana and swung it at Zabuza. He let go with an annoyed grunt before the metal blade could connect. The Narutos rained down on Zabuza and covered him to the point where he was no longer visible.

With a war cry, Zabuza released a burst of chakra and whipped the large blade around him, throwing back and dispersing the clones.

"Sasuke!" Naruto screamed as he grabbed something from his bag as he was sliding back. He threw the object toward Sasuke who caught it with a slight smirk. Sasuke caught the blades and spun around as if to increase the momentum. Zabuza didn't seem to notice. The blades slowly opened up until the four blades formed a cross of sorts.

" _Fūma Shuriken: Kage Fūsha."_ Sasuke said, holding out the large four-bladed shuriken. Zabuza huffed.

"A shuriken won't work on me."

Nonetheless, Sasuke leaped up, and turning once to get momentum, he flung it towards the clone who didn't bother looking until the last moment. By the time the clone looked up, he was too late to stop the projectile that changed its course for the real body.

The real Zabuza sighed. How naive of them. He reached out and easily caught the spinning blade.

"It's not that easy-" Zabuza suddenly jerked as he heard the sound of a second shuriken spin behind him. It curved and headed straight towards him.

 _'A shuriken in the shuriken's shadow! This is... the Shadow Shuriken Jutsu!'_ Zabuza thought, slightly impressed.

"Oh... Not bad. Hiding a second shuriken in the man's blind spot." Sakura grinned. "Guess you two aren't completely useless..."

Zabuza stared at the incoming projectile... and jumped.

"Still too naive..." Zabuza said in a superior tone.

"Not quite." Sakura said as she held up her hand, two finger pointed up. "Katsu."

Zabuza flinched as the seemingly innocent kunai stuck in the water prison suddenly erupted in a flash of light. His eyes slammed shut.

"If you were trying to get me to cover my eyes-"

"There!" Zabuza was confused as he heard the voice of the blonde brat come from behind him. No... Had the shuriken been..?! He attempted to turn and look but his vision was slightly blurry. He could vaguely see the boy throwing a kunai at him. His left hand was holding the Fūma Shuriken, and his right hand in the prison. With his vision, he couldn't even tell where the boy was aiming; him or the arm connected to the water sphere.

With a violent curse, Zabuza tugged his right arm free and leaped back.

The water sphere fell apart the moment Zabuza had severed the connection.

Naruto cheered as he fell into the water.

Kakashi was free.

And boy was he livid.

* * *

 **A/N: Done! Over six thousand words,; my longest chapter yet. Dang. And I'm pretty satisfied with how it turned out. I would have written more, but this should be enough for now. Most of the dialogue is copied from the anime since I want to keep to the story, so I don't take credit for it. I have a chapter for Dawn as well that I will upload as soon as I finish editing it... or not. It's kind of difficult writing the characters how I want them to turn out without turning it so... bad? Anyways, read and review~ Your support means a lot to me. Also as I said this before... progress on Akatsuki's Kage is slow... I need to work on that.**

 **And if you want the translations for any of the terms used, leave a message or something, and I will add it in later. I was a bit lazy this time around considering how long it took. But, if you are a Naruto fan, most of the words and translations should be obvious.**

 **~Tokumei Yurei**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7:**

Zabuza felt the blood escape from the small cut under his eye as he pulled away from the water prison. The kunai continued its trajectory and tore through the water clone.

"You brat!" Zabuza shouted as he drew back the arm that held the _Fūma Shuriken_ ready to slice the falling blonde haired boy in half.

The blade was stopped midway with a large 'clang' by Kakashi. The silver haired man had used the back of his hand that was covered by the metal plate attached to the glove, but the blade had cut deep enough for blood to seep out. Naruto fell into the water with a large splash.

Despite the power behind the hit, Kakashi's arm did not waver and his face showed no indication of pain.

Zabuza flinched at the red glare of the Sharingan. There was an ominous sort of blood lust that had not been present before.

Naruto gasped for as he reached the surface.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto cried out, partly out of joy, partly out of relief.

"Naruto, Sasuke, Sakura." Kakashi said, his tone relatively light. "Your strategy was outstanding. You've all grown up." Naruto laughed gleefully.

"The purpose of all the Kage Bunshin was not to take down Zabuza's clone but to hide my transformation into the _Fūma Shuriken_! Pretty impressive, huh?" Naruto said smugly.

"Hmph." Zabuza said flippantly. I just got distracted and broke my Suirō no Jutsu..."

"No." Kakashi said with narrowed eyes. _You_ didn't break the jutsu. They _forced_ you to break it."

Needless to say, Zabuza was pissed.

Sasuke shifted closer towards the bridge builder who was still clutching the white hare Sakura had shoved into his arms earlier.

"Sakura, we still have to be alert." Sasuke said. The armored girl stood a couple of feet in front of him, staring upon the scene on the lake.

"No." Sasuke heard her say softly. "It's over now. The thing we should be worried most about is Naruto, now."

"I'll tell you know," Kakashi said darkly, "the same jutsu won't work on me twice. So what will you do?" The genin watched uneasily as the two older nin stared each other off, waiting for the other to move. Zabuza's hand shifted and the _Fūma Shuriken_ folded so that the blades were once again neatly stacked. Kakashi gritted his teeth at the increase in pressure. He let his arm relax before throwing the blade to the side so that it spun far into the distance. Both men leapt back, further into the lake.

Zabuza's flashed as he created hand signs while muttering slightly under his breath. Kakashi quickly followed. He had copied this jutsu a long time ago, but he matched his pace with Zabuza's. A game of psychological warfare.

Sakura rushed towards the edge of the lake.

"Naruto, hurry!" Sakura whispered harshly. Naruto, remembering where he was immediately swam back where Sakura lugged him up. "We need to move!" Sakura half yelled. Sasuke nodded as they all backed towards the tree line.

Both men finished the last hand sign.

"Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu!" They yelled simultaneously.

The water between them rose, and pillars of water shot up. The pillars took the form of large coiling dragons as they shot through the air, coiling around each other before colliding. Huge waves rose out of the lake and crashed onto the shore. Sasuke grimaced slightly at the force of the wave as it hit the tree he was standing behind. To think, this was just caused by the ninjutsu battle going on and not the actual jutsu itself. And not only that. Their sensei had managed to copy the enemy in mere seconds, and perfectly at that.

The man was not what he appeared to be at all.

Sasuke glanced at his companions. Tazuna and Naruto were pressed up against the tree. Sakura was... gone?

Sasuke's eyes managed to catch the bright red of the pink haired genin's armor. She was perched up in a tree staring intensely at the battle. Sasuke took a chance to peek around the tree he had hid himself behind.

The two ninja were head to head. Zabuza was holding his large sword and pushing it down on Kakashi who was blocking with a kunai.

 _Strange_. Zabuza thought with wide eyes. _Sharingan is supposed to copy and memorize the enemy's jutsu, but... The jutsu were set into motion at the exact same time! By any chance, is this guy...?_

Sakura's head swerved as she abruptly felt another presence appear. On a tree nearby was a masked nin. He wore a navy kimono top with striped brown clothes underneath. His mask held a few red swirls, eye holes, and the Kiri symbol engraved at the forehead. Chocolate brown hair was held in a bun with a pale yellow cloth with two long bangs held at the sides tied at the ends. Sakura stared at the new figure. The masked face slowly turned to meet hers.

Sakura stared curiously. Was he or she a hunter nin? The outfit obviously suggested it, and it was possible he was here for Zabuza's head... The masked nin turned away to stare at the battlefield and Sakura returned her gaze back to the battlefield as well.

The two men had jumped back, but Zabuza seemed slightly unsettled. He dashed towards the side at the same time as Kakashi, and they ran in circles until they were once again in their original positions. Zabuza raised his arms in the stance for the Kirigakure no Jutsu. His eyes widened as Kakashi moved into the same stance at the exact same time.

The spectators seemed to realize the similarities as well.

"Oi, Sasuke! What the hell's happening?" Naruto shouted.

Sasuke didn't reply. Because he had no clue what was going on either. The Sharingan was supposed to copy the enemy's jutsu and movement. But Kakashi didn't look like he was copying. He was moving and doing the exact same thing as Zabuza was as if he was a mirror.

...

Zabuza lowered his arms back to the side as did Kakashi.

 _This guy..! My movements... He's perfectly..._

"Reading them." Kakashi said. Zabuza felt sweat collect on his skin.

 _What? He's reading my mind?!_ Zabuza thought frantically as he moved his hands moved to form another hand sign. Kakashi mirrored his movements exactly, the Sharingan glaring at him. _Damn him! He's..._

"... Giving me that barren, evil eye... right?" Kakashi said to Zabuza's shock. Sakura whistled lowly from her position. This was impressive.

"Hah... You're just copying... You're a pale imitation!" Zabuza and Kakashi hands closed to form the next hand sign.

"You won't be able to beat me! You!" Both men yelled simultaneously. Both of them began rapidly forming hand signs.

"I'll shut that copycat monkey mouth permanently!" Zabuza paused as he spotted a shadowed figure behind Kakashi. It was... him? An exact copy of him stood in the same halted position he was in. Kakashi finished his hand signs.

"Suiton: Daibakufu no Jutsu!" Kakashi yelled. The water shifted and began to swirl. A stream of water leapt out and created a ring of rushing water in front of Kakashi and it rapidly began growing.

"W-what!" Zabuza yelled. "No way!" The large vortex of high pressure water threw him back as it made contact.

 _I was about to use that jutsu..._ Zabuza thought in confusion as the water tossed him about.

The others that were concealed behind trees watched in slight awe as the force of the large vortex of water destroyed several trees as it continued its trajectory through the forest.

Sakura glanced to the side as the masked nin disappeared in a swirl of wind. She raised a brow, but hopped down the tree anyway. She started dashing towards the trail of destruction caused by the water jutsu. She could hear the others follow close behind. The water from the ninjutsu washed past their ankles even from the distance they were at.

They heard a large smack as the large mass of water finally slammed Zabuza into the trunk of a tree, at least a hundred meters away from the lake.

Kakashi whipped out several kunai and threw it at the Mist nin who was held against the tree by the still moving water.

Zabuza let out a small shout of pain as he leaned against the tree. Kakashi was crouched on the branch above Zabuza.

"It's over." Kakashi said.

Slowly, the water retreated back towards the lake in the trench created by the jutsu. Zabuza was silent as he slowly turned towards the man above him.

"Why...?" Zabuza said. "Are you able to see into the future...?"

"Yeah..." Kakashi replied as he lifted the arm that still held a kunai. "You're going to die!"

Two senbon shot out of seemingly nowhere and sunk deeply into Zabuza's neck. Zabuza was thrown slightly to the side at the amount of force put behind the throw as a spray of blood erupted from the wounds.

Sasuke, Naruto, and Tazuna let out a shocked gasp while Sakura and Kakashi's heads whipped towards the nin who had thrown the needles.

On a high branch, the hunter nin Sakura had seen earlier stood calmly; hands at his sides as if he had never thrown the senbon in the first place. Zabuza's body hit the floor with a large thud.

"You were right." They heard the mysterious arrival say. "He really died."

They all stared at the masked nin, then at Zabuza. The man's eyes were still frozen in its shocked position. Kakashi leapt down next to the man and gently placed his finger on the man's pulse.

"He's definitely dead." Kakashi announced at the absence of a pulse. His gaze returned to the nin standing on the branch. The boy, from the looks of it and voice of it, inclined his head in a light bow.

"Arigatou gozaimashita." He murmured. "I have been waiting a while for the chance to kill Zabuza."

Kakashi stared warily at the newcomer.

"Based on the mask, you're a tracker ninja from Kirigakure."

"Impressive. You're very knowledgeable." The nin said as he straightened from his position. Kakashi's eyes briefly flickered towards the side as his students and clients appeared.

"Tracker ninja?" Naruto asked, having heard the tail end of the conversation.

"Naruto, this was taught in the academy." Sakura said with a small sigh. "Tracker ninja, or Hunter nin, track down rogue ninja that have defected from the village and assassinate them in order to prevent any secrets from the village from being leaked."

"Correct." The boy said softly. "I am part of the Kirigakure's Tracking Unit which hunts down nuke nin."

Kakashi remained crouched next to Zabuza. _Judging by the height and voice of the hunter nin... He can't be any older than Naruto. This kid is no ordinary kid..._

Naruto ran forward as he looked back and forth between the Hunter nin and the prone body of Zabuza. He raised his finger at the shinobi that stood on the branch.

"What are you?!" Naruto yelled, surprising his companions. "Oi, you!" Naruto continued when the ninja did not respond.

"Relax, Naruto." Kakashi said as he stood up. "He's not an enemy."

"That's not what I'm asking! I... I mean..! That Zabuza... That Zabuza was killed!" Naruto yelled frantically. Kakashi quickly walked towards his panicking student. "That strong guy, was killed so easily... by a kid who's no different from me! We... We're pathetic in comparison! There's no way I can accept that!" Naruto finished.

"Well, I understand what you mean." Kakashi said casually, his hands stuffed in his pockets. "But... this, too, is reality." Kakashi said as he rested his hand on top of Naruto's head in a somewhat comforting gesture. "In this world, there are kids who are younger than you... _and_ stronger than me."

Naruto looked away from Kakashi's intense gaze with a frustrated face. Sakura heard Sasuke's small grunt of frustration as well.

The Hunter nin disappeared and reappeared next to the fallen body and picked it up.

"Your battle is over for now." The boy said softly. "I must get rid of this body because it contains many secrets. Now then, please excuse me." With that, the nin raised his free hand and the wind whistled around him and the corpse before disappearing.

"He disappeared!" Naruto said in shock. Kakashi sighed as he lowered the hitai-ate back over his left eye... Obito's eye... covering it. Naruto dashed towards the tree as if expecting the masked ninja still there.

"He's not here anymore." Kakashi said in an indifferent voice. Naruto fell to his knees in anger.

"Damn it!" Naruto screamed in rage as he punched the ground. "What the hell is this for?! What are we anyways?! Darn it! Darn it! Darn it!" Naruto said as he punctuated he curse with a smack on the dirt floor. Kakashi walked forwards and grabbed Naruto's injured arm before he could swing it down again.

"Things like this happen when you're a ninja." Kakashi said. "If you're frustrated, train harder and apply it next time." He released his grip.

"Our mission hasn't ended yet. We must take Tazuna-san home now."

Tazuna let out a laugh, trying to break the depressing mood.

"So sorry, everyone! You can rest at my house!"

"Yosh! Let's perk up and go!" Kakashi said with as much cheer as he could as he walked back towards the path in the forest. Kakashi froze in his steps as exhaustion from using the Sharingan finally set over him. It had been a while since he had used the eye, and spending so much chakra... He stumbled before falling towards the floor. He caught a flash of pink before he completely passed out.

...

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto screamed as he ran towards his fallen teacher, the others following closely behind.

"He's just exhausted." Sakura said as she stood up with one of the silver haired man's arms slung around her shoulder. She retracted the chakra she had sent into his body as she made sure the man wasn't dying. She raised her free hand to let out a pulse of healing chakra to soothe the unconscious ninja. Kakashi's pained expression relaxed as she retracted her hand.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto wailed. Sakura sighed.

"He's fine, Naruto. Don't yell so loud and let's go. We still need to get to the Jiji's house." Sakura grumbled as she practically had to piggyback the collapsed ninja. They said that muscles weighed more than fat, but the man was so heavy! _Not to mention I just got a new set of weights!_ Sakura wailed inwardly. Steeling herself on the outside, ( _Be strong! Just pretend it's just one of Heiki-san's harsh training sessions!_ Sakura thought inwardly) she turned to face the rest of the group, slightly exasperated.

"Come on! Don't just stand there with those dumb expressions! Didn't you hear Kakashi-sensei? He said get Tazuna-san to his house, so let's go!"

The rest of the males were prompted into action as they continued walking with Sasuke and Tazuna leading while Naruto frantically circled around Sakura still panicking.

"Naruto! He's not dead! Now if you keep moving in front of me like that and I trip, you will not be allowed to go anywhere near your ramen for a month!"

"Eek! Gomen Sakura-chan!"

* * *

Kakashi's eye slowly opened. He lay in a futon covered in a blanket and he could hear the distinct sound of seagulls.

It seems I overused my Sharingan. He thought wistfully.

A woman dressed in pink with long black hair approached him.

"Oi, are you alright, Sensei?" The woman asked, hands resting on her hips.

"Not really... It will be hard just to move for about a week." Kakashi grunted as he pulled himself into a sitting position.

"Then it would be better if you didn't move for a while." The woman said sternly.

"Err... Right. Okay..." Kakashi said as he laid back down.

He heard the pounding sound of footsteps as his students appeared from the doorway along with their client.

"Kakashi-sensei! You're awake!" Naruto said happily. Sakura stomped into the room, though lacking her usual armor and clutching the white rabbit to her chest.

"You...! Stupid, idiotic, careless... Baka Sensei!" Sakura said as she took a seat next to his head with a huff. "Seriously. You take down one ninja, then suddenly collapse on us? And then you let that 'Hunter-nin'," Sakura said lifting her fingers to quote the term, "just take the body!"

"Ah... Gomen." Kakashi said sheepishly. He backtracked. "Wait... What." Kakashi asked as he sat up, his hand gripped his head as pain spread through his body. His mind raced as his student's words finally clicked and the uneasy feeling that he had been missing something finally settled down at the realization.

"Ah... Sakura. Always the perceptive one. So I guess you figured it out?"

"Don't say like you knew it, Sensei." Sakura said crossing her arms as best as she could.

"What? What's going on?" Naruto asked frantically.

"What happened to Zabuza after he was killed?" Kakashi asked patiently.

"How should we know? The masked kid took him away!" Naruto replied.

"And the weapons he used?" Kakashi asked once again.

"Regular senbon..." Sasuke trailed off. "No way!" Sasuke said as he too came to the same conclusion.

"Right. It's impossible." Kakashi said.

Naruto and Tazuna had lost expressions on their faces.

"What are you guys going on about?" Tazuna asked.

"It is most likely, that Zabuza is still alive." Kakashi said blandly. His claim was met with shocked shouts from Tazuna and Naruto.

"What the heck do you mean?!" Naruto screamed. "You even said he was dead!"

"No. Zabuza is alive for sure." Sakura said with a sigh. "The Hunter-nin used senbon. It has a very low chance of killing, unless it hits a vital spot like through the eyeball or..." Sakura trailed off at the looks she was receiving. "Anyway, Hunter-nin are extremely knowledgeable about the human body and it would be pretty simple for them to put someone into a state of near death. The Hunter-nin took Zabuza's body instead of destroying it on the spot. He used senbon as the killing weapon, and aimed for the neck. The neck doesn't really have vital spots, but the lack of muscles would make it easy to let the Hunter-nin to put Zabuza into a state of death. That boy wasn't trying to kill Zabuza, but save him."

"A-aren't you reading too much into it?!" Tazuna stuttered.

"Not at all." Sakura mumbled.

"No." Kakashi said, ignoring the girl. "It seems fishy so we'll make preparations before it's too late. That's also an ironclad rule of shinobi."

Naruto trembled. A grin stretched across his face, containing fear and excitement all at once.

"I'll assign you guys training." Kakashi said, with a small amused grin that was hidden from the occupants of the room. Naruto looked ecstatic, Sasuke looked slightly dubious given his previous lack of enthusiasm towards the idea of training, and Sakura seemed... detached.

"Seriously?!" Naruto said. "But... We can't get to the same level as them!"

"But who was it that saved me during the last battle?" Kakashi asked. "It was you guys. You've all grown." Kakashi said leaning forward, his visible eye crinkling into what indicated a smile. "Especially you, Naruto. You've grown the most." Naruto flushed slightly at the praise he received. The only other person to have praised him was Iruka-sensei and Sakura-chan... It felt warm.

"So you've noticed, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said proudly, "Now it's getting interesting!"

"It's not interesting." A new voice said. They all turned to face a small boy in overalls with a hat covering most of his head.

Sakura's eyes sparkled slightly. The boy looked adorable despite his glum expression.

"Who the heck are you?" Naruto said flatly, pointing at the kid.

"Oi, Inari!" Tazuna said joyfully. "Where have you been?"

The boy ran towards the bridge builder, giving him a hug.

"Okaeri, Jii-chan."

"Inari. What sort of greeting is that? These are the ninja who escorted your grandpa!" Tsunami scolded.

"It's fine, it's fine! Right, Inari?" Tazuna waved it off while patting the small boy's head. The boy said nothing as he stared at the collection of ninja while clutching the front of his grandfather's shirt.

Sakura's eyes perked in interest at the boy's dark gaze. Those were the eyes of someone who had seen hardship and death. It was similar to Sasuke's eyes.

The boy turned to his mother without changing his expression.

"Kaa-chan. These guys will die... There's no way they can oppose Gato and win." Sakura was floored by how casually the boy said it and how devoid of emotion it was.

"Say what, you little brat!" Naruto screamed as he leaped up in indigence. "Now listen up. I'm a super hero who's gonna become an awesome ninja called the Hokage in the future!" Naruto declared proudly. "I don't know if it's Gato or Chocolat or whatever... I'm not worried about those guys at all!"

"Huh, a hero. That's ridiculous. There's no such thing!" Inari said condescendingly.

"What did you say?!" Naruto said running towards the boy. Sakura reached out and gripped Naruto's ankle causing him to trip. She rubbed the rabbit absentmindedly as it shifted nervously from Naruto's loud outburst. She then turned towards the boy with a smile.

"Ne, ne. You know, Gato's just one man who hires thugs and ninja to do his dirty work. Ninjas are more difficult to take down, but Gato himself I don't think would be too tough. For a ninja, it would be easy to take him down given that we don't encounter any other ninja. He's not the super powerful guy you think he is-"

"If you don't want to die, you'd better hurry up and go home." Inari interrupted, walking towards the door.

"Where are you going, Inari?" Tazuna called after the boy.

"The sea. I'll be looking at the sea." With that, the boy left.

"I apologize." Tazuna said as the boy disappeared. Naruto merely seethed. He yanked his foot out of Sakura's grip and went to follow the boy.

* * *

The three genin stood in front of Kakashi who was leaning on his crutches. Naruto had been unusually quiet since he had returned from following Inari.

"Alright. Let's begin the training!"

"Osu!" Naruto said immediately cheering up.

"So first, I will have to explain chakra from the basics."

"Now?" Sasuke asked.

"Come on! We already know what this Chatora thing is!"

"It's chakra..." Kakashi said with a sigh. "Sakura?" Kakashi said, turning towards his female student hopefully. She gave him a small glared before putting a hand to her chin thoughtfully. To explain it in a simple way for Naruto who had never listened to understand...

"It's energy ninja needs to use a jutsu. That chakra is made up of physical energy produced by the body, and spiritual energy from training experiences, and other things." Sakura could see she was losing Naruto. "Um... Basically those two things make chakra and ninjas manipulate it to use their jutsu by using hand signs. How about... Think of it this way. In ramen, the main components you need are the noodles and soup base. When you combine those two things, you get ramen. Kind of like that...?"

Naruto's eyes lit up.

"Oh! I see! Thanks a lot Sakura-chan! You're the best!" The rest of the team stared at them blandly.

"Well... At least Iruka had some excellent students..." Kakashi said.

"Whatever!" Naruto said. "I don't get long explanations and stuff but I can learn through trial and error!" Sasuke grunted in agreement.

"We already know how to use jutsu either way..."

"But not efficiently." Kakashi cut in. "The amount of chakra used varies depending on what jutsu is being used, but two of you haven't been using it efficiently at all." Naruto and Sasuke looked insulted.

"Even if you have a large amount of chakra," Kakashi said, pointedly staring at Naruto, "if you're not able to control it in a balanced way, the effectiveness of the jutsu is halved or not work at all."

"Wasting chakra will prevent you for fighting for long periods of time." Kakashi finished.

"So..." Naruto said. "What are we supposed to do?"

"You need to learn to control chakra with your body. It is difficult training that require you to put your life on the line to master." Kakashi said, enjoying the look of anticipation on his genins' faces.

"What is it?" Sakura said, sounding genuinely curious.

"Hm... Tree climbing." Kakashi said. He enjoyed the disappointed looks he received.

"Tree climbing?" The three genin shouted in various degrees of disbelief.

"A special type of tree climbing." Kakashi corrected. "You will climb without using your hands."

Sakura looked at him warily.

"No way... Are you talking about..?" Kakashi reveled in his female student's tone which varied from her usual cheerful or slightly all-knowing tone.

"Well... Just watch." Kakashi said as he made the ram sign. A small gust of air swept at his feet before he turned towards the tree... And walked straight up the side with crutches like he was walking on a normal surface.

"It is..." Sakura said flatly, disappointed.

"What the-?!" Naruto said, surprised. "He's climbing straight up... with just his feet?"

Kakashi stopped after he reached the lowest branch and hung upside down, staring at the smugly.

"So, kind of like this. Focus chakra on the bottom of your feet and make them stick to the tree trunk. If you can control chakra well, you can do things like these."

"How is this supposed to make us strong?" Sasuke asked.

"Well the main point is to get the required amount of chakra to the right spot. This is difficult, even for an expert ninja. The amount of chakra required for tree climbing is delicate. And the bottoms of your feet are the most difficult place to gather chakra. In other words, if you master that control, it will be easy to master any jutsu, in theory that is!"

Sakura stared at him unimpressed. She had heard so many lies in the few seconds he had spoken. The exercise wasn't all that difficult, and just mastering this didn't mean that a ninja could learn any jutsu he or she wanted. There was elemental nature as well as other more tricky exercises... The exaggeration was most likely to get the boys pumped up and to get them to work harder.

"Well, why don't you give it a shot?" Kakashi said as he threw three kunai at the genin's feet. "Use that kunai to put a mark at the spot where you can climb up to under your own strength now, then make an effort to make a mark higher than it. You guys aren't skilled enough to walk up from the start so I suggest you run and use momentum to get the hang of it. Got it?"

Naruto grabbed the kunai in front of him.

"Hah! This training is nothing. It's too easy for me!" Naruto declared. Sasuke and Sakura picked up their kunai as well. "After all, I'm the man who's grown the most!" Naruto continued on.

"Enough talk." Kakashi said. "Get to it; try climbing any tree." Kakashi said, fully intent on enjoying watching his cute little students fail.

Naruto's eyes gleamed at the challenge before he lifted his hands in the ram symbol. The clearing went quiet. There was a slight rustle as the area around the genins' feet emitted chakra.

"Here I go!" Naruto said as he dashed for the tree. He took two steps, before falling smack on his back.

"Itai!" Naruto howled.

Sasuke got much further, nearly to the first branch before the bark broke beneath his foot and he was forced to make a mark and leap back.

 _I didn't think maintaining a constant amount of chakra would be this difficult._ Sasuke thought irritably. Sasuke observed the mark his foot had made. _If the chakra's too strong or too much, you get pushed back. On the other hand..._ Sasuke's gaze slid to Naruto who was rolling on the floor gripping his head in pain. _If there's too little chakra, there's no sticking power and that happens._

Kakashi watched on amused. Kakashi blinked as he realized Sakura had not moved from her position.

"What's wrong, Sakura?" Kakashi asked, drawing the boys' attention.

"This..." Sakura said, waving her arms in their general direction. "I already know how to do this."

Sasuke glared at her and Naruto jerked up in shock.

"What?!" Naruto said, eyes popping in disbelief.

"What." Kakashi said in a much flatter tone.

"Keiki-san. And Kantoku-san, really."

"Of course." Kakashi said as he rubbed his head.

"Prove it." Sasuke demanded. Sakura hesitated, unsure of what she should do. If she did it, it could discourage Sasuke and Naruto immensely not to mention breed a sort of resentment. But seeing as she wasn't getting out of it...

With a sigh, Sakura walked over to a nearby tree. She didn't bother with a hand sign. It was unnecessary for anybody was experienced enough and was only for beginners to help concentrate their chakra.

She proceeded to walk, _walk_ , up the the tree before taking a seat on the lowest branch.

"Ta-dah." Sakura said with a dry grin. As expected, Sasuke was scowling and Naruto was gaping.

"Well... It looks like Sakura, _the girl_ , has the best chakra control." Kakashi commented.

Both boys glared at him, then each other before backing up and running up their respective trees with newfound determination. Sakura sighed. She jumped down. Kakashi met her at the base of the tree.

"When did you learn?"

"A long time ago. Maybe when I was around six?"

"First try?" Kakashi asked.

"First try." Sakura confirmed.

"Maa, then how about water-walking?"

"That was shortly after the tree climbing thing. Keiki-san is strict." Sakura said with a light hum.

"Aa." Kakashi said, unsure how to continue the conversation.

"I'll go get some self-training done then, Sensei." Sakura said as she began walking away.

Kakashi blinked at the girl's retreating figure. Was it just him, or did Sakura seem a bit more... down?"

* * *

Sakura walked towards the house, intent on picking up her armor and weapons.

 _I wasn't strong enough. I'm not on the level I want to be. With the power I have now... I won't be able to protect anyone._

* * *

 **A/N: Wah... I apologize for the extremely late update despite everything. I can't upload documents properly on Fanfiction for whatever reason when it worked before so I kind of procrastinated and just ended up... yeah. So I'll try to work harder, but I need to get other stuff done as well. I was in a rush to get this chapter out so there might be minor changes here and there later. I hope you enjoyed, leave a review with any suggestions and whatnot. Till next time~**

 **~Tokumei Yurei**


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8:**

"Matte! Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, chasing after the girl.

Sakura turned right as Naruto slid to a stop in front of her.

"Ano..." Naruto said somewhat shyly. "Before you go, can you give me any tips?" Sakura smiled warmly.

"Of course. Anything in particular you have trouble with?" Naruto perked up instantly.

"Err... Everything?" Sakura stared at him briefly before she burst out laughing. "Don't laugh, Sakura-chan!"

"Sorry, sorry. It's just you're very refreshing, Naruto." Naruto cocked his head questioningly as Sakura waved her hand. "Anyways, I suppose the first thing to keep in mind is to keep calm, as strange as it might sound. Chakra is a balance of spiritual and physical energy, so your state of mind will also reflect how you perform. Since your method is more of a trial and error, you should test out different amounts of chakra on your feet. After several attempts you should get a general idea of just how much chakra you should be keeping around your feet. Once you get the right amount, all you need to do is practice on how to make that amount constant. Even then, you should practice until it becomes second nature and doing it doesn't require you to think. Understand?"

"Uh... I'm not 100% percent sure, but thanks, Sakura-chan!" Naruto yelled, running back towards the tree he had been attempting to scale. Sakura watched him go, lips twitching into a smile.

"Maa... He's way too brash." Sakura said to herself as she turned to walk back towards the house. "I don't think he really needed my advice at all..."

Sakura's eyes flitted back to where she had sensed the boy, Inari, earlier. The boy was watching her two teammates train with a dark look. Sakura continued on with a sigh. She'd deal with it later.

...

Naruto glared as he stared at his tree in the dying light. His marks on the tree had grown considerably in height, but was still slightly behind Sasuke's. The other boy seemed to realize that he was catching up as well if the scowl on his face was anything to go by. Naruto closed his eyes in concentration.

 _Keep calm. Then keep just the right amount at your feet. Yosh! I got a good feeling about this one!_

Naruto made a dash for the tree.

"Oi, Naruto!"

Naruto promptly tripped, falling flat on his face.

"Jeez! What the heck's wrong with you?!" Naruto screamed in rage. "Don't interfere while I'm trying to concentrate!" Nonetheless, Naruto turned so that he sat facing the Uchiha, albeit the glare that remained on his face.

"Uh.. Well..." Sasuke stuttered, looking away in a way that was way out of character for the boy. Naruto narrowed his eyes. Sasuke never initiated conversation with him, or anybody for that matter. Naruto's curiosity was further piqued as a light blush dusted the boy's pale cheeks while his brow was twitching as if he was severely irritated. "Earlier... you asked for some tips from Shusa, didn't you? What did she say?"

Naruto blinked as he comprehended the black-haired boy's words. A shit-eating grin slowly grew on Naruto's face as he realized Sasuke's predicament before quickly disappearing.

"Not telling." Naruto said flatly.

Sasuke's head whipped towards his, his brow twitching even more than before as they glared at each other.

Somewhere in the back of his mind, Naruto acknowledged that Sakura had been there, she would have scolded him for not sharing information when a teammate, especially one who never reached out, asked for help.

 _'It takes a lot of males courage and pride when they ask things of others! Play nice and be courteous about it!'_ Naruto could almost hear her saying.

But Sakura-chan wasn't here, was she?

* * *

 _Again._

 _'Katon: Ryūka no Jutsu!'_

Sakura let her chakra race through her pathways and up to her mouth. A large breath of flame roared across the lake, illuminating the surface of the lake before causing a large explosion of steam which engulfed the area. She panted as sweat dripped down her brow. It wasn't enough. Her hands once again flicked through the four hand seals. She took a deep breath as she held the tiger hand seal.

"Maa, maa. I didn't take you for a fire type, Sakura."

Sakura choked as she coughed up a cloud of smoke in surprise. She turned to glare at the silver-haired man behind her who only raised an arm in response.

"Yo."

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura said in between coughs. "Don't sneak up on me!" Sakura inwardly berated herself. Rare was she caught off guard by anyone. The number of times that she had been successfully sneaked up on could be counted on one hand, and it was by the same person as well. She reminded herself silently to train to be more aware of her surroundings no matter what.

"Maa, I'm just making sure my skills haven't rusted." Sakura made a face. "It's nearly dinner time so I thought I would come get you. Those huge blasts you've been creating aren't really subtle you know? No matter how deep in the forest you go."

Sakura pouted slightly.

"It's not like anybody but a ninja with superhuman senses like you could hear it." She mumbled. Kakashi made his way over, giving her a small pat on the head.

"I'm just that special." Kakashi agreed.

"How modest."

"Being a high-ranked jonin comes with its privileges. So, as I suspected. You are already versed in elemental ninjutsu. However, your file never mentions it and you didn't use it during the bell test our any of our previous training sessions and spars. Why?" Kakashi asked amicably as he slowly limped back towards the forest on his crutches.

"There was no real need to." Sakura grumbled, keeping pace next to man. "The academy isn't really concerned with teaching elemental ninjutsu, and the people who know about it are... limited. But I'm sure I can tell you, right Sensei? Since you were ANBU and all, I'm sure you could keep a secret."

"Heiki?"

"Mm."

"He tells you too much."

"Not really. Your bingo book entry really says everything as well as your reputation in the village among both civilians and the shinobi population."

"Oh, my reputation?" Kakashi asked, ignoring the fact that the girl had gotten her hands on a bingo book.

"Yep. You'd be surprised. Grown-ups say a lot of things that they probably shouldn't, and kids sometimes understand a lot more than they should. And I've heard a lot of things that grown-ups have said when they think no-one's listening." Kakashi single eye gazed at her calmly.

"Ah. Is that so? So pray tell, what have you heard about me?"

"Good things and bad things." Sakura said neutrally.

"Like?" Kakashi probed.

"Like the kind of ninja you are."

"Such as?" Kakashi prompted.

"It's unsightly to dig for information from your student, Kakashi-sensei." Sakura replied, picking up her pace.

"Sakura!" Kakashi whined slightly. "Have pity on your poor injured Sensei!" Sakura snorted.

"You're a _high-ranked jonin_. I'm sure you can easily keep pace. I bet those crutches are for show, anyways." Nonetheless, Sakura slowed down, allowing the silver-haired man to catch up.

* * *

"Well... This is really fun!" Tazuna exclaimed. "It's been a long time since we've had a meal with this many people!"

His words for the most part were ignored as the others continued to eat. Naruto, who hated vegetables, ate the entire meal that was set in front of him, and Sasuke, who was usually more dignified, was tearing through his food just as fast as Naruto was.

"Seconds, please!" They chorused at the same time as they raised their bowls towards the Tsunami. Sakura looked up with a smile as their faces suddenly took on a sick look.

"You two. It's rude to ignore your host. And Kami help me, if you vomit up that food you just ate, you boys will be the ones cleaning it so I suggest you keep your mouths shut and swallow down your bile. Don't you dare waste food."

Naruto and Sasuke gulped as their female teammate smiled lightly at them. She fed the last piece of lettuce from her bowl to the white rabbit that rested in her lap. She got up and set the hare down in a box in the corner of the room before picking up and placing her bowls near the sink.

"Thank you for the food. Do you need help with the dishes, Tsunami-san?"

"That would be nice, thank you." Tsunami replied gratefully. "I'll set get some tea ready in the meantime."

The whole exchange was watched by the male audience in silence.

"You guys are so whipped." Inari snorted, earning himself two glares.

...

"If you don't mind me asking, Tsunami-san, may I ask about the story behind the picture which has a person deliberately torn out? I know Inari has been staring at it since the beginning of dinner."

The mood in the kitchen immediately became somber as the three residents seemed to adopt heavy looks.

"It's my husband." Tsunami said softly.

"He's a man who was once called the hero of this town..." Tazuna continued.

Inari abruptly stood up from his seat.

"Inari! Where are you going?" Tsunami called as the boy walked towards the door.

The boy said nothing as he slammed the door behind him. Tsunami ran after the boy, only pausing to glare at her father, and say, "Tou-san! I'm always telling you not to speak about that person in front of Inari!"

The woman, too, disappeared from the house.

"Look at what you've done, Shusa."

"This is my fault?" Sakura panicked. "I didn't think everybody would be that upset about it! I'm sorry!"

"Calm down, Sakura." Kakashi said giving a slightly reprimanding look towards his male student. "I'm sure you didn't mean any harm. Besides, it appears there is some kind of good reason for this."

Kakashi turned towards Tazuna who stared at the table with traces of grief across his face.

"Inari had a father, not related by blood." Tazuna started. "It was like they were a real father and son seeing how well they got along... Back then, Inari was a child who laughed all the time. However..." Tazuna trembled. Everybody's eyes widened as tears fell from their client's eyes.

"However... Inari has changed ever since that incident with his father. The word bravery... was eternally taken from the people of this island and from Inari. With that day, that incident as the trigger."

"That incident? What happened?" Kakashi asked. Tazuna took off his glasses to wipe the remaining tears from his eyes.

"Well... To explain that incident, I must tell you first about the man who was called the hero of this land."

"Hero?" Naruto questioned.

And so, Tazuna told them about the tale of a dead hero by the name of Kaiza.

About the man who had rescued the drowning boy, who had rescued the town from being flooded, who had been made an example of by Gato and killed in front of the entire town. Right before Inari's eyes.

Naruto was quiet as he remembered how he had heard the boy crying earlier in his room. And the picture frame he was holding...

Naruto stood up tripping before he took two steps.

"You've had enough training for today. You've used up too much chakra." Kakashi scolded.

"I'll prove it." Naruto said, showing no signs of having heard as he struggled to stand. "I'll prove that there are heroes in this world!" Naruto exclaimed.

"Stole the words right out of my mouth, Naruto!" Sakura said as she leaped up, grabbing her armor and her katana on her way out. "We'll show him what a hero is!"

Naruto followed right behind, letting out a cheer.

"Sakura! You're low on chakra as much as Naruto is! Rest is essential part of training, you know!" Kakashi yelled in an attempt to stop his students.

"Yeah, yeah! And don't you dare kill Usagi-chan!" Sakura's fading voice called back.

"It's just a rabbit and it's not even ours!"

* * *

It took two days before Sasuke finally approached Sakura.

"Hello, Sasuke." Sakura said, her lips curling slightly while she gave him a small wave from the branch she was resting on.

"Sakura." Sasuke greeted as he took a seat at the base of the tree. The two sat in silence.

"You usually don't take the initiative to seek me out, you know." Sakura mused. "So what caused you to seek me out now?"

"...Nothing." Sasuke said. Sakura hummed.

"Shouldn't you be training with Naruto? He's come out every single night to train, you know. He'll catch up in no time."

"I know."

"So...?"

"Do you... have any tips for tree climbing?"

"Is that the only thing?"

"You...coddle Naruto too much."

"Sasuke, you know he's never had parents. While you might think that that is a blessing at times... It's better to have had then never had."

"..."

"The only thing I can say about the tree climbing thing is to not rush or be frantic about it. You probably know the amount of chakra you need by now so all you need to do is practice keeping that amount constant" Sakura said as she jumped down from the tree. She began walking closer to the lake when Sasuke finally spoke up.

"I've been meaning to ask. About _that man_." Sasuke said bitterly "You _knew_. You knew him and my family. Do you not feel any anger at all?"

"Is that why you've been so pissed at me for all these years? Jeez... Sasuke. You have the mentality of a child."

"Shusa." Sasuke warned.

"Yeah, yeah." Sakura said, waving him off. "I... It's not good to be consumed by anger... But I guess I do feel angry sometimes."

"Then why?!" Sasuke demanded. "Look at what he's done, Sakura! Everyone is dead!"

"But you're not," Sakura replied softly. "I don't understand how this sibling thing works, and I don't know how a clan works. Even the concept of family, is very vague to me. I can't say I completely understand what you're feeling; our situations differ. What you and I see and understand are different."

"Then tell me so I can understand!" Sasuke growled. "You an him, both! What can you see that I can't?!"

"...Go back, Sasuke. If all three of us are gone, Kakashi-sensei's bound to check on us at one point." Sasuke glared harshly at her. He opened his mouth, ready to say something before he closed it. Sakura listened until his stomps had faded away. With a sigh, she sat down on the ground and hugged her knees. Training at this point wasn't going to do her any good, so she settled for staring at the waning moon that hung in the sky.

Kakashi found her an hour later in the exact same position.

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked quietly, not looking back.

"Yo. Just checking to make sure all my cute little genin are alive."

"...Sensei. What do you think of the Uchiha Massacre?" Sakura asked cautiously.

"Enough to know you shouldn't poke or prod about it." Kakashi said sharply.

"What did you think about it? What do or did you think about him?" Sakura said, ignoring Kakashi's warning tone.

"Who?" Kakashi asked with a narrowed eye.

"Itachi, of course."

"Sakura, you shouldn't meddle with that stuff." Kakashi said with a sigh. Sakura was a strange one. Thinking back to when they had first introduced herself, her opinion on Sasuke's ambition was...

"What did you think?" Sakura asked unflinchingly.

"You're not going to let this go are you?"

"Well?" Sakura persisted. Kakashi sighed again.

"Seeing as you're not going to let this drop... What I thought about it, huh? If I could describe it... I would say it was a shock. I didn't think something like that could have happened in a single night by a single person. There, happy?" Kakashi relented. Sakura turned to him sharply.

"And?" She demanded.

"And what?"

"What else did you think about it?" Sakura asked earnestly.

"What else is there to think about it?" Kakashi said bitterly. "He killed his entire family in cold blood. There _is_ nothing else."

Sakura stared at him for a few more seconds before she turned away.

"I suppose so."

"Why are you bringing this up?" Kakashi asked suspiciously.

"No reason. I'm really sorry about that, Kakashi-sensei... I don't know what came over me. It's just that Sasuke being my teammate and all... I'm sorry." Sakura said, in an uncharacteristically subdued manner.

"...I apologize as well. The massacre isn't really a pleasant thing to talk about and is still hard to swallow even after all these years."

"Yeah... Arigato. Anyways, if you haven't checked up on Sasuke, you probably should." Sakura said in a more upbeat tone. "He was pretty mad the last time I saw him and he doesn't really think rationally when he gets in that sort of mood. Please make sure he hasn't gone and killed himself." Sakura said, making a shooing motion at him. "I need to keep training."

Kakashi nodded mechanically as he began turned away.

When he had first gotten his genin team, he knew they were going to be a lot of work. Minato-sensei's son along with the last surviving member of the Uchiha massacre. The girl, he had thought, would be the least of his troubles proved to have several issues of her own. She didn't act like other girls her age.

Kakashi immediately regretted skimming through the files that the Sandaime had handed him when he had been assigned this team. When they got back to Konoha, he would definitely have to look back through those.

* * *

 _Sixth day of training..._

Sakura's eyes opened. The birds were chirping irritably loudly and the light was slowly starting to brighten.

It was morning already. Sakura yawned as she sat up, wincing at the cracks her back made. Sleeping outside in her rigid armor had not been a good idea. She sighed as she mechanically took the heavy armor off and sealed it in a scroll. She was left in a plain long sleeved black shirt and pants.

Sakura yawned, as she stretched to get rid of the rest of the kinks left in her body. She better go check in on Naruto. There was no doubt he had slept in the forest again as well.

...

Naruto woke up as he felt a hand gently shaking him.

"You'll catch a cold if you keep sleeping here." A feminine voice that did not sound like Sakura said.

He sleepily sat up and stared at the blurry figure crouching next to him.

"Who're you..?" The female smiled at him just as his vision cleared and Naruto blushed. "Oh... Did you wake me up, sis? I mean, what are you doing out here?"

"I'm gathering medicinal herbs."

"Herbs?"

"Yes. For healing injuries, sickness, and the like."

"Oh? Do you need help? I'm vaguely familiar with those kinds of things." Naruto's head jerked up as Sakura approached them.

"Sakura-chan!"

"Ohayo, Naruto. So, need help?"

...

Sakura plucked another herb and dropped it into the wicker basket as the two boys began to make idle chatter. Sakura snorted as Naruto stumbled over his words and called the feminine boy, 'onee-chan' again.

She had read enough books about the structure of the human body to distinguish between male bodies and female bodies. This 'onee-chan' was definitely male.

Sakura quietly listened in on as the other boy spoke. The next sentence definitely caught her attention.

"Do you have somebody precious in your life?"

There was silence as Naruto tilted his head in confusion.

"When a person has something precious they want to protect, that's when they can become truly strong." The boy said, a look of peace on his face. Naruto smiled as he finally replied.

"Yeah. I know that well, too! I've got Iruka-sensei, Kakashi-sensei, Sakura-chan, and I guess Sasuke..." Naruto trailed off. Sakura smiled at this.

"You'll get strong." The boy said as he stood up, picking up the basket full of herbs.

"Yeah!"

"I hope we meet again somewhere." He said as he turned.

"Ah, can I walk with you for a bit? I'd like to ask some questions about the types of medicinal plants you use and find around this area." Sakura suddenly said, jumping to her feet.

"Ah, I suppose so..." The boy said uncertainly.

They walked side by side when Sakura suddenly turned to grin at Naruto.

"Ne, Naruto. You do know that he's a guy right?" Sakura asked as she jerked her thumb towards the teen next to her. The look of shock on Naruto's face was memorable as the boy next to her nodded in confirmation.

"Nani?!" Naruto yelled.

Sakura muffled her laughter against her hand as she continued down the path with the boy. She opened her mouth to say something when she spotted Sasuke heading towards them.

"Ohayo, Sasuke!" Sasuke didn't respond. He had been sulking ever since their conversation that one night. Sakura grinned despite this.

"Cold, isn't he?" Sakura commented once they were out of earshot. "I apologize for his rude behavior. He's really not too bad."

"You sound like you're quite familiar with him?"

"Eh... We were... uh, classmates. He's detached and a real loner type, but he's my teammate, you know? I want to be able to protect those around me, and besides... I've promised someone that I'd watch over him." Sakura grinned.

The boy smiled back.

"He is precious to you?"

"I suppose so. My whole team is precious to me. Just like Zabuza-san is precious to you." The boy froze. "I'm not going to fight you now, and I won't do anything." Sakura added quickly.

"You knew. I suspected you might. How long?" The boy said, relaxing marginally.

"Since I felt your ...chakra. It was the same as the Hunter-nin's. Your chakra signature is pretty distinct. It has a sort of... wintery feeling?"

"Wintery feeling?" The boy mused. "I suppose it would. If you knew, then why didn't you..?"

"Say anything? Yell for Naruto to get away?"

"Hai."

"Well... I'd think I'm rather decent on reading people's character. I'm not sure how to quite explain it, but I feel as if you are a gentle soul." Sakura said. "Of course, letting yourself be called a girl without retaliating spoke volumes as well."

The boy chuckled as he relaxed and continued to walk next to her.

"I've been mistaken as a girl often enough to take advantage of it."

"That often? How does your male ego take that? All the guys I know would have taken serious offense and thrown a huge temper tantrum. Except... maybe Shikamaru... Yeah, he wouldn't care."

"Male ego... pride. I'd give anything up for Zabuza-san."

"Same for me. I can't say they're important to me as Zabuza is to you yet, but... I don't want to lose anyone. I'll get stronger. I'll be the next God of Shinobi and change this twisted world for the better."

"That sounds like a nice dream. I'm sure you'll reach it someday."

"Thanks... Ah! I didn't ask what your name was."

"It's Haku. Just Haku." Haku said as they slowed to a stop near the village.

"Well then, 'Just Haku'. You may call me Sakura. Just Sakura."

"Then I believe we'll see each other soon, 'Just Sakura'. Next time we meet..."

"Yeah... The mission. Well, let's all make it out alive." Sakura held out a hand which he grasped with his free hand. "Farewell then, Haku."

"Goodbye, Sakura." With one last look, they both turned around and headed in opposite directions, knowing the next time they met, they would be enemies.

...

On her way back, Sakura managed to run into her Sensei who was heading towards the clearing the boys were practicing in with a basket of food.

"Tsunami-san is a saint!" Sakura praised as she took the basket off his hands.

"It's nice to know how easily you're won over with food." Kakashi commented.

"...It's nice to have home-cooked meals." Kakashi didn't say anything after that.

When they arrived at the clearing, it was well... empty. A kunai was flung near their feet and their gazes were drawn upwards to Naruto who was resting on a high branch.

"How about that?! I can climb this high now!" Naruto boasted. He leapt to his feet, hands on his hips in a display of pride. His left leg proceeded to slip, and the boy fell backwards with a small shout of panic.

' _Crap, this is bad!_ ' Kakashi thought as he prepared himself to abandon the crutches and dive for his student.

Sakura was thinking along the same lines as she dropped the basket and raced towards the base of the tree.

Only for Naruto catch himself underneath the branch so he was hanging upside down.

"Gotcha!" Naruto said with a laugh. "You fell for it, you fell for it!"

Of course, this drew him less than amused looks from the two shinobi.

"Naruto... please don't do that." Sakura said as she tried to calm her racing heart. Naruto only laughed from his position as he preened at his clever deception. He laughed right until he lost his concentration and his feet separated from the underside of the branch with a light pop promptly giving the two shinobi on the forest floor simultaneous heart attacks.

A blue blur jumped from a nearby tree and managed to catch Naruto's ankle while sticking his feet to the underside of the same branch Naruto had been under a few seconds ago.

"You... Usuratonkachi." Sasuke said, voice slightly strained.

"Sasuke..?" Naruto questioned as he glared at the boy holding him. The Teme was ruining his chances of looking cool!

Kakashi merely smiled as he felt pride swell in his heart. The kids were really growing well.

"Sakura-chan?! Are you alright?!" Naruto yelled at the girl who was half collapsed against the tree and seemed to be muttering to herself deliriously.

"I just felt five years of my life being shaved off... Kami save my soul."

* * *

The bridge was near its completion. Tazuna had apologized on a couple of occasions for the delay. The construction, they knew, would have been much faster if so many men had not quit out of fear. The work days were often cut short due to the lack of manpower. Today was one such day, and Kakashi once again took advantage of it to get his body back up to shape.

"Sakura, come here." Kakashi motioned.

Sakura looked up questioningly from her book, hand frozen mid-stoke over the rabbit that lay on her lap. She had for the most part, depleted her chakra stores while recklessly throwing fireballs about and had settled herself for reading and meditating for the day. And... Sakura grimaced. The water level of the lake she practiced on had considerably dropped and she was sure she had killed at least eighty percent of the wildlife in said lake. Perhaps she would wait until it rained before she went back or else the lake would soon become a puddle.

"Sakura." Kakashi beckoned again, snapping the girl out of her daze.

"What do you need, Sensei?" Sakura asked as she closed her book and set the rabbit on the floor. It stared up at her peacefully, making no attempt to flee. Haku had really taken care of it well.

"Maa, Sensei needs to make sure he's in good condition for our next battle. Seeing as you have time to spare, how would you like to be my weight?" Kakashi gestured towards his back, already in position to do push-ups.

"You want me to sit on you?"

"Essentially. You can get Tazuna-san as well since I'll need the extra weight."

"Am I not enough of a handicap?" She said even as she called for the bridge builder while simultaneously rummaging through her pouch.

"It can't be helped since you're so light, Sakura." Kakashi said as his eyes crinkled into a grin.

"How flattering," Sakura said dryly as she opened her storage scroll and unrolled it.

"I was under the impression that that is what females like to hear." Sakura made a face, still skimming through her scroll.

"Yes I'm sure you have a lot of experience with that area then, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said as she found the item she wanted. At the same time, Tazuna entered and Sakura waved him over to man who was warming up by doing a couple push-ups with just his index finger.

"You're welcome to sit on him, Jiji." Tazuna stared at her blankly.

"The extra weight would help a lot." Kakashi said slightly sheepishly as he looked up. Tazuna looked like he was about to say something more, but he merely grunted and sat on Kakashi with a huff, muttering something vaguely under his breath that sounded like 'ninja'. The only indication Kakashi was affected by the added weight was a nearly inaudible grunt.

Sakura unsealed the object and made her way over to the two men. She smiled at Kakashi before promptly dropping her luggage on Tazuna's lap.

"Holy-!" Tazuna said.

Kakashi's index finger and arm trembled.

"What are these?!" Tazuna asked, staring at the bars with strange markings on his lap.

"Weights." Sakura said guilelessly. "Those should make up about a total of about 50 kg. It's slightly more than my weight."

Sakura proceeded to sit in front of the silver-haired man after she scooped up the white rabbit without dropping her smile.

"Sorry, Sensei, but I will sit this one out. I need to train my mind" Sakura said as she lifted the book so he could see the cover. "If you feel this is not enough, then I still have plenty of heavier weights you can use.

"This is fine." Kakashi said as he began his push-ups. Sakura was slightly awed that his voice didn't sound the slightest bit strained.

For a while, there was peaceful silence.

"I've been meaning to ask..." Tazuna started. "You know that I tricked you about how dangerous this mission was to get you guys to come here... So why did you stay?"

"To know what is right and choose to ignore it, is the act if a coward.'" Kakashi said. Sakura looked up from her book. "'Like master, like man.' Those are the teachings from some of our previous Hokages... This is the shinobi way of life... True shinobi do not merely dance to the tune of whoever pays the piper. That being said... Sakura, what are you doing?"

Sakura had whipped out a small notebook along with a pencil out of thin air and was furiously writing in it.

"I'm recording your words. I'm definitely using them." Sakura looked up when she finished writing down the last word. She smiled genuinely. "You know, Kakashi-sensei. You're a horrible teacher, always coming hours late to training, but... You're strangely inspiring."

"Ah... Thanks, I guess." Kakashi said awkwardly, not pausing in his movements. His eye glanced down at the open notebook. Just above the words she had just written were his previous words when they had stood in the graveyard. _Obito's words_.

"...Sakura, are you going to go around and write everything I say? That's sort of creepy." Kakashi teased. Sakura flushed.

"N-no! Why would I write everything you say?! Don't think that everything that comes out of your masked mouth is all humble and deep! I just... it's..."

"I was joking, Sakura." Kakashi said, eye closing in a grin. "It's fine. I don't mind too much although it is slightly embarrassing how much my words mean to you."

"Of course they mean a lot. You're one of my role models so I look up to you a lot."

"I'm not sure if I would categorize as a good role model, but I'm flattered either way."

"I never said you were a _good_ role model. Just a role model."

"Now that's just harsh."

"Good role models don't come late to team meetings and neither do they lie about why they are late."

...

The day had been full of surprises. That same night, Sasuke came back with Naruto's arm swung over his shoulder as he supported the blonde boy in a rare moment of camaraderie as the boy announced, "We both... climbed to the top!"

Kakashi nodded in approval.

"Naruto, Sasuke. You two will both assist me in guarding Tazuna at the bridge tomorrow."

"Alright-! Whoa!" Naruto said as he fell back and brought Sasuke toppling down with him.

"You Usuratonkachi!" The others laughed at the two boy's antics with the exception of Inari, who was his usual perpetually depressed self.

Dinner went smoothly enough, with Sakura and Naruto complimenting the food often enough to cause Tsunami to blush. Naruto, as the one sitting directly across from Inari, was the first to notice the little boy's tears.

"Oi, what's wrong?"

"Why..." Inari said, shaking. His voice drew every other conversation to a halt and all eyes were on him. "Why do you wear yourself out training so desperately?! No matter how hard you train, you'll never be a match for Gato's thugs. No matter what cool things you say or how much effort you make... the weak always lose out against the truly strong!" Inari yelled, tears rolling down his cheeks.

Naruto looked irritated as he put his head down, ignoring Inari.

"Shut up. I'm not like you and I'm not going to lose."

"Shut up! Just watching you ticks me off! You go running your mouth when you don't know a thing about this land! You know nothing of this town! You're always clowning around and having fun. You don't a single thing about suffering or loneliness or what my life is like!" Inari screamed.

Naruto twitched at the last statement.

"So... you're going to cry all day like the lead in a tragedy? An idiot like you can just cry forever! You crybaby!" Naruto said, glaring at the sobbing boy. Inari flinched at the intense blue eyes. Without another word, Naruto stood up and left for the guest room.

"...Inari." Sakura said softly as she stood up and placed a hand on the boy's shoulder. "You said that the weak always lose out against those who are truly strong. Then you are very lucky, because we are not weak, but strong... That being said, I'm very sorry, Tsunami-san, I can't." Sakura said. The hand that gripped Inari's shoulder turned him so that the boy was facing towards the her. Her other hand snapped up and slapped the boy with restrained force.

"Inari!" Tsunami exclaimed, clearly worried. However, she made no move to stop what was going on.

"As much as I can understand where you're coming for, I cannot forgive you for speaking like that to my friend. I get that you father died. Yeah, so what? Do you think the whole world revolves around you? There are plenty of people in this world who have lost a father and tons more who have lost both of their parents. You at the very least have a caring mother and grandfather who are still _alive_ to love you. Do you think your bitterness will get you anywhere? Don't you ever dare speak trash about my teammate... and don't you dare soil everything your father stood for."

Sakura stormed out quickly after that, and the door closed behind her with a slam.

Kakashi sighed. The moment the words had left Inari's mouth, he knew that his students would react violently. Naruto, for sure. Sakura, he admitted, went farther than he had expected. Sasuke... had not said a single thing, but the dark glare he was shooting the crying boy was enough to tell him that the words bothered Sasuke just as much as it did to his teammates.

...

"Got a minute?"

Inari turned to look at the silver haired shinobi. When Inari remained silent, Kakashi took it as an okay and he sat next to the boy on the porch.

"You know, Naruto didn't mean any harm with what he said. He's a bit uncouth..."

"..."

"We heard the story about your father from Tazuna-san." Kakashi said. "...Like you, Naruto grew up as a child without a father." Inari jerked his head towards Kakashi in alarm. "Actually, without any parents. He doesn't remember either one. Not only that, for a while, he didn't have a single friend. His whole life is one big, painful memory."

"R-really?" Inari asked, shocked.

"Hai. And for all the time I've known him, I've never seen him cry or use his troubles as an excuse to sulk or be a coward. Not once. He always tries his hardest, hoping someone will acknowledge him. It's for the sake of that dream he always risks his life. I think one day, he must have grown tired of crying. So, he knows the true meaning of the word strong. He knows what it costs and he knows what it's worth... Just as your father did." Kakashi paused as he allowed the boy to take everything in.

"Naruto might understand your feelings the most. What Naruto said earlier, I have no doubt he's repeated that to himself over and over again. He can't leave you alone... because you've got under his skin." Kakashi said, giving the boy a closed eye smile.

"T-the girl... She hit me." Inari said, half sulking and half in disbelief. Kakashi sighed.

"Sakura should not have done that, but... She also- no. This entire team. All of them are orphans." Inari's eyes widened in surprised. "Sasuke and Sakura's family died when they were younger, so they grew up for at least half their lives alone. A life of suffering and loneliness... As a shinobi, such life is not uncommon."

Inari looked down, slightly guilty.

"She must hate me. I bet he hates me, too."

"Nah, I don't think Sakura was mad because she was hurt by your words, but rather how it affected her teammates. If you apologize to Naruto and Sasuke, she'll probably forgive you. As for Naruto, you shouldn't worry too much. He has a good heart. Give him some time and he'll eventually forgive you as well."

"... I guess." Inari mumbled.

"...Well! Please take care of my team then." Kakashi said, standing up. He had some runaway students to find.

* * *

Kakashi felt the heat long before he could even reach his female student. The hot steam permeated through the dense overgrowth making it stuffy and extremely hard to see.

Kakashi had to use a quick wind jutsu to disperse the steam and cool the area a bit. Sakura had retreated back to the lake, again...

"Unforgivable." Kakashi heard just as his student hiss as she became visible through all the white fog. She was pacing back and forth, aggravated. "I thought Sasuke was bad, but this kid... Harping on about depressing things about how there's no hope when he still has family left... Kami he's frustrating-"

"Sakura."

Her head whipped towards the jonin who lifted a hand in greeting.

"Kakashi-sensei! What are you doing here?"

"Making sure my cute little student hadn't decided to go after Gato himself to make a point. Not saying that you should." He hastily added when he saw Sakura seeming to consider the idea. "Besides, we're not contracted to do anything besides protecting Tazuna until the completion of the bridge."

Sakura scowled.

"So what is my adorable little student doing?"

"Letting off some steam."

"I can see _that_." Kakashi said with a raised brow, perspiration coating his exposed skin.

"Go away, Sensei. I'll come back once I'm finished with my temper tantrum."

"Maa, maa. Don't be so rude to your teacher. I came all the way here just to provide you company."

"I don't need company right now. Please, Kakashi-sensei. I need this time alone." Sakura said in a strained voice.

"If you want to talk about it I'm sure..."

"Kakashi, must we start to discuss my _female_ problems?" Sakura asked. Kakashi instantly turned on his heel and quickly began walking back toward Tazuna's house.

"Well, don't stay out too long then. If you don't come back past midnight I'll come to check by then." With a wave, the man disappeared as fast as he had come.

Sakura snorted. Typical male behavior. She let out the huge breath she did not know she had been holding. Her chakra flared hotly as her emotions once again clouded her brain.

Her hand clutched the dangling object held by the thin chain around her neck.

Without making a single hand sign, flames burst forth brightly in the night, causing another explosion of steam.

* * *

"Those two... They've completely worn themselves out. They might not wake up for the rest of the day. Well, they can take the day off considering how hard they've worked."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of them." Tsunami assured them.

"Well, we're off then."

...

"Sakura-chan! They left us behind!" Naruto said, shaking the sleeping girl frantically by the shoulders.

"Ah...Uhn?" Sakura blearily opened her eyes before closing them. "Just a couple more minutes..." Sakura groaned as she went limp.

"Sakura-chan! We overslept! Come on we need to go!" Naruto said as he continued to shake the despondent girl. He paused, blushing as he realized that the overly large shirt that served as her pajama had slid off one shoulder revealing a pale bare shoulder. Naruto immediately let her go and Sakura's head hit the hardwood floor with a large thud.

"Itai! What the heck, Naruto?! That hurt!" Sakura yelled as she clenched the back of her head.

Naruto shook off his blush as he started running around the room.

"Kakashi-sensei and Teme left us! We're late!"

"...What?!" Sakura jumped out of bed in an instant. "They're already gone?! What time is it? Oh man... come on. This is so lame!"

Tsunami opened the door just as the two finished dressing and was nearly toppled over in their rush.

"Where are you two going?" Tsunami yelled.

"Bridge!"

"Kakashi-san said he wanted you guys to have the day off-! Oh my, they're already gone..."

...

Naruto and Sakura tumbled through the trees.

"Man! This totally sucks... I swear if Kakashi-sensei makes a remark about us being late..."

"Yeah... Oi, Sakura. What's that?"

"Eh?"

...

"W-what the hell?" Tazuna said as he took in the bodies that were scattered limply on the unfinished bridge. Tazuna knelt down next to a man who was coughing blood. "What happened?!"

"M-monsters..."

...

"Inari! Could you help me with the laundry?"

"Yeah! Just a sec, Kaa-chan!"

Two men stared at the house with matching smirks.

...

The bridge was suddenly covered with a thick mist and the bright light of the sun was slowly muted.

"They're coming!" Kakashi shouted as the three immediately stood back to back.

 _I was right... He's survived and he's come back to finish things._ Kakashi thought with a grimace as he lifted his hands in the tiger seal.

"Been a while... Kakashi." Zabuza's voice floated through the mist. "You still have that brat with you, although the other two seem to be absent. Ah, and that one's trembling like last time, poor thing."

In a split second, they were surrounded by seven water clones of the Mist-nin, all smirking arrogantly.

Sasuke smirked as the trembling eased the slightest.

"I'm trembling with... excitement." Kakashi smiled at his student.

"Do it, Sasuke."

The clones lunged with a battle cry and Sasuke was gone in a flash.

There were several grunts and Sasuke returned to his original position as if he had never moved. The clones all simultaneously burst, leaving behind large puddles.

"Oh? So he could see that. The brat's grown quite a bit." Zabuza said as he emerged from the mist at the end of the bridge. Following behind him was the masked Hunter-nin. "This means you have a rival, don't you, Haku?"

"So it seems."

"Ah, and it seems our mysterious masked friend is playing on Zabuza's team." Kakashi mused.

"He has some nerve showing up after telling such a bald-faced lie!" Tazuna said with a huff.

"Sensei, I will take the masked one. He put on a quite a show, but I hate actors and liars."

"Impressive kid, isn't he? Even though your clones contain a fraction of your original strength. Considering the amount of time he had to train... it's amazing he was able to do so well."

"But we're still on the offensive. Go." Zabuza commanded.

"Hai."

Haku became a blur as he approached Sasuke. Sasuke's eyes widened momentarily before a smirk spread across his face. This wasn't the same as last time. This time, he could read the enemy's movements.

...

The door way shattered, revealing a bare-chested man covered with tattoos who was tucking away his katana, and a shorter man who also carried a katana at his waist.

Tsunami turned from her position in surprise.

"Are you Tazuna's daughter?" The shorter one asked. "Sorry, but you're coming with us.

Inari jerked as he heard a loud crash coupled with his mother's scream.

"Kaa-chan!" Inari screamed as he ran into the kitchen to see two men standing over his mother.

"Don't come here, Inari! Run! Quick!"

"Should we grab him too..?"

"We only need one hostage."

"Well, that's too bad... for him." The tattooed man said with a nasty smirk as he began to unsheathe his blade. Inari flinched, but he couldn't make his legs move at all.

"Wait!" Tsunami yelled. "If you lay a hand on that child, I will bite off my tongue and kill myself! You need a hostage, right?"

The shorter man smirked and his companion tucked his blade into its sheathe with an irritated expression.

"Thank you Kaa-chan, kid. Come, let's go."

Inari collapsed as the two men tied her mother and left with her in tow.

"Kaa-chan... I'm sorry. I'm so sorry!" Inari sobbed. "I'm weak, so I can't protect you... I don't want to die... I... I'm scared-!"

 _"You crybaby!"_

Inari froze.

 _"So... you're going to cry all day like the lead in a tragedy? An idiot like you can just cry forever! You crybaby!"_

 _"I think one day, he must have grown tired of crying. So, he knows the true meaning of the word strong. He knows what it costs and he knows what its worth... Just as your father did."_

 _"Don't you ever dare speak trash about my teammate and don't you dare soil everything your father stood for."_

 _"For the things I truly hold dear... I'll protect them with these two arms, even if it looks like I might lose my life!"_

Inari rubbed the rest of his tears away. When he looked up again, there was no longer any trace of the boy from before. "Tou-chan!"

...

"Looking at that beautiful skin of yours makes me want to cut you." The tall man leered. Tsunami glared at him before wincing in pain as the other man pulled the rope.

"Hey, walk faster."

"WAIT!"

Tsunami felt her stomach drop. She slowly turned, seeing what she had feared the most. Her son stood at the end of the walkway with no sign of backing away.

"Oh, it's the kid from before."

"Get... get away from my Kaa-chan!" Inari screamed as he made a mad dash for the trio.

"Man... this brat's hopeless." The taller male said, one hand gripping his katana.

"Yeah. Let's do it." His partner replied, hand also on the hilt of his katana.

Tsunami's head whipped back and forth between the two men and her son.

"If you do that, I'll bite off my tongue and-" Tsunami went limp, then she collapsed in a heap on the ground.

"Shut up and go to sleep."

"I...na...ri..."

The katanas hummed as they were drawn through the air before they made contact and ripped through the small body.

...

Sasuke's arm trembled as he held his kunai against the senbon being held by Haku.

"Oh? So that boy can see that speed, eh?" Zabuza said with amusement.

"Yes..." Kakashi gritted his teeth. They should have woken up Naruto and Sakura. This situation.

"Tazuna-san, back up, but don't get too far away from me."

"H-hai."

Sasuke and Haku clashed a few more times before returning to their stalemate.

"I don't want to kill you, so I'd like for you to back down."

"Bullshit."

"I thought so... But you won't be able to catch up with my speed. Also, I've made two preemptive moves."

"Two preemptive moves?"

"The first is the scattered water, and the second one was blocking your hands. Which means you'll only have one hand to defend against my move." He lifted his left hand, forming a seal.

Sasuke's eyes widened.

Kakashi was stunned. One-handed signs... This was _his_ first time ever seeing such thing.

 _'Hijutsu: Sensatsu Suishō!'_ Haku stomped his foot in the puddle of water causing it to rise. The water hovered before thinning into thin needles.

Sasuke's eyes were closed, brow furrowed in intense concentration. Sasuke's hand was lifted in a half-ram seal.

'Remember the training... Summon and focus all the chakra I can... And focus it at my feet!'

The needles dropped.

...

The log fell to the ground, neatly sliced into three pieces.

"Kawarimi... no Justu?" One of the samurai said in recognition.

"The woman... she's gone..." Their eyes scanned the surroundings before darting to the house when they heard a new voice.

"Sorry I'm late. Heroes usually appear on the scene at the nick of time, so..."

"Naruto-nii-chan!" Inari exclaimed as Naruto lowered him and Tsunami onto the deck. Naruto grinned.

"Inari, you did well."

"Huh?"

"When you distracted them, I was able to save your Kaa-chan." Inari felt pride before he realized something.

"Nii-chan, how did you know that these samurai were here?"

"Well you see, in the forest, there was a boar that had been cut up with a sword. There were also several trees and branches that were cut up. The marks were headed in the direction of your house, so Sakura-chan and I decided to split up since we were worried."

"I see." Inari replied happily.

"Well, if it isn't the no good ninja that Tazuna hired." The taller man said, scratching his chest. The other one smirked.

"Let's do it."

"Right."

They dashed forwards. Inari's eyes widened as opened his mouth.

"Nii-chan!"

Naruto stood up and turned towards the approaching figures. Naruto smirked and stuck his tongue out.

"Bakas."

Two shadow clones jumped from behind the two samurai and gave a hard kick to each of their heads. The men went down with a painful grunt and clatter.

"W-wow." Inari said, stunned.

"Yeah, pretty awesome isn't it? Anyways, besides that... I owe you an apology." Naruto said as he rubbed his head sheepishly. "Well... uh... I'm sorry for calling you a crybaby, and it's not true either." Naruto said, placing a hand on Inari's head.

"You're a big strong boy!"

Inari stared at Naruto in wonder. Suddenly, his eyes filled with tears and he could feel his nose getting runny.

"Oh... no. I promised myself I wouldn't cry. Now you'll make fun of me again." Inari sniffled.

"No way." Inari looked up. Naruto folded his arms behind his head as he grinned at Inari. "There's nothing wrong with crying when you're happy."

Inari nodded happily, wiping away his remaining tears.

The two boys quickly tied the two samurai from head to toe, then placed Tsunami back in the house so she would not be exposed.

"If your house has been targeted, that means the bridge has been targeted too. I better go..." Naruto said. "I can leave the rest to you, right?"

"Un!" Inari confirmed. Naruto nodded before breaking out in a dash towards the bridge.

"Man! It's tough being a hero, that's for sure!"

"Wait, Nii-chan!"

Naruto fell flat on his face.

"Itai! What is it now?!" Naruto yelled.

Inari made a beckoning motion before he ran back in the house. Naruto walked back with a grumble. Inari reappeared not a minute later clutching a katana that was larger than him. He awkwardly made his way over before thrusting the blade towards Naruto.

"The Nee-chan forgot it since you two were in such a rush this morning." Inari explained.

"Eh?" Naruto said blankly. Now that he thought of it... Sakura's katana had not been strapped on her back when they were running. And as far as Naruto knew, Sakura used her katana to fight.

Naruto grabbed the sheathed blade from Inari and started running towards the bridge with more determination than before.

"Thanks, Inari! I'll make sure it gets to her!"

...

Sakura landed lightly on a tattered rooftop. She had actually never been to the bridge, but this direction was the direction she felt the rest of her team's chakra signature. Cutting through the village was a shortcut, right?

Sakura paused.

She had been feeling off since she had left the house, and the more she moved, the more it became apparent. Wait... where was her katana?

"...Agh! Baka, baka, baka, baka!" Sakura yelled as she hit her head with her hand. "What kind of ninja forget to bring their weapon to the battlefield?! I'm going to be soooo late if I go back... Should I go without it or...?"

Sakura silently debated her options before she finally came to a quick decision. She didn't have time. Hopefully, maybe, Naruto would see it and bring it?

A large clatter drew Sakura's attention.

"Hm? What's this?" Sakura muttered as she quickly hid herself and stared down at the street.

...

Haku leaped back just as the needles of water fell creating a small explosion of water. However... the boy was gone.

Haku looked up just in time to see and dodge the shruiken thrown at him.

"You're surprisingly stupid..." Sasuke said as he appeared behind Haku. "From now on, you'll only be able to defend."

Haku leapt back and lifted his arm to block Sasuke's. Sasuke flicked a kunai at Haku causing him to duck and allowing Sasuke to get a solid kick on him. Haku was thrown back towards Zabuza.

"To think Haku would lose in speed..." Zabuza said with gritted teeth.

"I can't have you mocking our team, calling them brats." Kakashi said with pride. "He may not look it, but Sasuke is the number one rookie in Konohagakure. Sakura is always full of surprises. And the other one is the number one hyperactive, knucklehead ninja, Uzumaki Naruto."

"..."

Zabuza chuckled darkly.

"Haku, do you understand what this means? At this rate, you'll be killed at the hands of the one you wanted to spare."

"Yes... this is unfortunate." Haku said as he stood up. Chakra slowly seeped out of his body and the temperature began to drop.

Sasuke froze at the sudden change. _Why was the air getting so cold...?_

Haku formed a hand seal with both of his hands, and ice began to rise around Sasuke. The ice slowly turned into rectangular mirrors, trapping Sasuke in a sort of dome.

 _Sorry, Sakura, Naruto..._

' _Hijutsu: Makyō Hyōshō!'_

Sasuke's eyes darted from side to side.

Kakashi was also staring in shock in growing dread. He had never seen a jutsu like this.

The mirrors glowed brightly, and Haku slowly stepped into one of the ice mirrors and merged with it.

As Haku's reflection appeared on every single surface, Sasuke finally seemed to understand what this was.

"Are these... mirrors? What in the world..?"

"Shit!" Kakashi ran for the cage of ice but was stopped as Zabuza appeared in front of him, a smug look on his face.

"I'm your opponent, aren't I? Since that jutsu has appeared... he's done for."

Kakashi was starting to regret several things. First, baiting the enemy. Second, for allowing Sasuke to be reckless and arrogant as he was. Third, he _should have_ woken up his other students. At best, Sasuke would occupy the boy, he would occupy Zabuza, and Tazuna would be defenseless.

Zabuza seemed to have followed his thought process and had an amused gleam in his eyes.

"Ready to watch your student die, Kakashi?" Kakashi glared at the man in front of him.

"You bastard..."

...

"Now then... I'll start." Haku said. His voice came from all directions making it difficult to pinpoint where he was. "Let me show you... my true speed!"

Before Sasuke could even blink, his arm guard seemed to tear, and he felt pain erupt from the small scratch. Then another scrape at his shoulder. He couldn't _see_ it. Soon, needles were flying everywhere, and the kunai that was clutched in his hand was knocked out of the ice dome.

From his spot, Kakashi could hear his student's agonized cries of pain.

"If you make a move," Zabuza said tauntingly, "it would be a simple matter to kill the old man."

In one quick swipe, Kakashi managed to quickly throw a kunai towards Sasuke in the desperate attempt to at least arm his student. Once again, Zabuza was looming in front of him before he could do anything further. The man threw him a dark glare.

Sasuke, in beaten and bloody state had caught the throwing knife heading towards him out of the corner of his eye. He reached a hand out as if to catch it.

A pale hand shot out and caught the kunai by the hilt just as it passed through the space between the mirrors. Haku's arm and head poked out of the mirror as he stared at Sasuke.

Sasuke crumpled to the ground, but managed to glare at the masked boy. The boy couldn't have been that much older than him. So how was there such a huge difference in strength? Sasuke struggled to push himself off the ground, only pausing as he saw a blur pass behind the head of the masked boy.

Haku turned, startled as a shruiken curved and hit his mask so that his jerked to the side. A second shruiken once again nailed the mask causing his head to twist in the opposite direction.

Haku's body tumbled out of the mirror and he fell on the ground limply.

Everybody watched this scene blankly. Who...?

There was an explosion of smoke to the left of the prison of ice.

 _'It's that idiot, isn't it? That showoff!_ ' Sasuke thought with irritation although there was a sense of relief as well.

"The number one hyperactive, knucklehead ninja..." Haku said as he slowly stood up, a diagonal scratch clearly visible between the two eye-holes of the mask.

The smoke slowly dissipated revealing the aforementioned boy who was holding his arms in a dramatic sort of pose.

"Uzumaki Naruto... is finally here!" Naruto said with a smug grin. "Now that I've come, you're alright! The hero of a story usually appears in this kind of situation and takes out the enemy in no time!" Naruto said animatedly.

"Oh!" Tazuna exclaimed, slightly impressed.

"Heh, that brat..." Zabuza said with a tone akin to amusement.

'Tch. Big talk as usual...' Sasuke thought flatly.

Kakashi, however, was the most disappointed.

'That idiot! What we needed was an ambush. Instead, he all but paints a target on himself!' Kakashi raged silently.

In Kakashi's moment of distraction, Zabuza took the chance to throw several shruiken at the blonde boy.

"Naruto!" Kakashi yelled.

Naruto pulled out a kunai as he got ready to defend himself.

What nobody expected was the senbon that countered the shruiken, stopping it's momentum completely and falling to the ground.

"He's saved. To think the enemy's attacks would cancel each other out. That was super lucky." Tazuna muttered.

"Haku... What are you doing?"

"Zabuza-san, please let me have this boy. I want to fight him in my own way." Haku said, bowing his head slightly.

"...So, you want me to keep my hands off him? How charmingly naive of you as usual..."

Sasuke scowled from his spot as he managed to sit up. Naive? Yeah right. He was being killed slowly and painfully. He was purposefully avoiding vital and killing points. The biggest problem was that he couldn't see where the masked nin was or the weapons he was throwing. It had to be something with the mirrors. The only thing he could do was fight on the inside and trust Naruto to set him free from the outside-

"Yo! Sasuke! I'm here to rescue you!" Naruto said with a one hand raised as if he was whispering from his crouched position next to the Uchiha.

Sasuke reeled back in surprise, eye twitching in irritation while his mouth hung open at the utter idiocy that was his teammate.

"You okay there, Sasuke?" Naruto asked cheerfully.

Kakashi let out a sigh as he could feel himself age a decade.

"Y-you Usuratonkachi!" Sasuke yelled as he struggled to form words in his anger. "If you're a shinobi you'll move more cautiously!"

"What's with you?! I came to the rescue, you know!"

"If you're also trapped in the ice mirrors... Just whatever. Do what you want. I don't even care anymore, baka."

"'Baka'? What the hell do you mean by 'baka'?!"

'As to be expected of the number one most unpredictable ninja... Him coming to 'help' has made the situation go from bad to worse.' Kakashi thought dryly.

"Oi, by the way. Where's Sakura-chan? She left this at the Jiji's house you see..." Naruto said as he held out the katana that had been strapped to his back.

"Sakura?" Sasuke said, confused.

"Yeah, we were coming together but we had to split up and I went back to the house and she went on ahead..."

"She... hasn't come." Sasuke said breathlessly.

Kakashi heard this and felt hope fluttering in his chest. There was still one more person left. Sakura was smart. Surely she was waiting for the right moment...

"Eh? That can't be right." Naruto said with a frown. "She was heading straight towards here and she should have been here way before me. She couldn't have gone back to get her katana or I would've run into her..."

"...What?" Sasuke asked. "You're saying she's missing?!"

Kakashi once again felt his stomach drop. Or not. As far as he could tell, Sakura was not here nor was she hiding anywhere near here. The situation hadn't changed. No, perhaps this was worse. Two of his students were trapped in an inescapable prison, and the other had gone missing. Fantastic.

Haku stepped into the ice mirrors drawing the two boys' attention.

"Ugh... since it's come to this..." Sasuke's hands quickly formed hand signs. " _Katon: Gōkakyū no Jutsu_!"

The fire from Sasuke's mouth engulfed the mirrors in a bright blaze. As the fire receded, Sasuke was shocked to see the ice mirrors completely intact with droplets of water as the only indication of his fire having any effect.

"That didn't work at all!" Naruto yelled at Sasuke.

"They won't melt with that level of firepower," Haku informed them. He drew several senbon and the mirrors began to glow once again. The two boy were instantly knocked backwards with several new scratches.

"Damn it!" Naruto yelled as he jumped back to his feet. "Which one is the real one?!"

"It's useless for you to even attempt to follow with your eyes. I absolutely will not be caught."

Naruto growled, lifting his hands.

"Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!"

"Stop!"

"If these are clones, then I'll hit them all to find the real body!" Naruto yelled as multiple clones emerged from the cloud of smoke and charged at the mirror.

The clones were all dispersed before they could even get near the mirrors and Naruto was thrown back next to Sasuke.

"This is a teleportation jutsu that uses mirrors that can reflect only my image. Watching you from the speed I move at, it almost seems as if you aren't moving at all."

"Damn it...So what?! I can't die here yet. 'Cause I have a dream that I must turn into reality, the dream to have my strength recognized by everyone in the village, and become the Hokage!"

'Dream...' Haku thought with melancholy, recalling the moment he had met Zabuza-san.

"For me, becoming a shinobi completely is difficult. If possible, I don't want to kill you guys, and I don't want to get killed y you guys. But if you come at me, I will kill my feelings with a sword and completely become a shinobi. This bridge is the battleground that will connect each of us to our dreams. I want to protect the person dear to me. For the sake of my dream... Please don't hold this against me."

...

From outside, Kakashi's eyes widened in understanding.

"That jutsu... that's a kekkei genkai." Kakashi said with a grimace. "Even with my Sharingan, this is something I cannot copy."

"Having regrets, Kakashi?" Zabuza taunted.

"Several. But, considering the circumstances, I don't think we've lost quite yet."

"Oh?"

"The outcome of a fight is not determined until the very end. Until then, nothing is for certain."

"You're not in any position to be spouting such nonsense, Hatake Kakashi. Now then, we should get started as well, shouldn't we?"

...

* * *

 **A/N: Hey readers~ Yes, I know this is super late but just look at that length! Ugh, I should not have been so detailed as I did, so I'm going to add a real short time-skip between this chapter and the next. Please leave a review regarding any concerns or comments (they really encourage me to write faster), your support means a lot.**

 **~Tokumei Yurei**


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9:**

'It was just a bit, but... I was definitely able to see traces of his movements.' Sasuke thought with narrowed eyes.

"One more time!" Naruto said with gritted teeth as he held his hands up.

'How much chakra does he have?' Sasuke thought idly.

Naruto ran towards the mirrors again letting out a collective battle cry. Sasuke also ran forward and kicked the water from the ground into the air. Within seconds, all of Naruto's clones were dispersed and they both were thrown back.

Sasuke smirked. He was getting the gist of the masked boy's movements. The next turn, he was going to need to test it out.

...

Blood dripped from Kakashi's hand as one hand blocked the kunai aimed towards his eye while the other was poised to lift his headband.

"So you are afraid of the Sharingan after all." Zabuza snorted.

"Let me tell you something. The last time we fought, I didn't just let you beat my like a fool. Haku, who was hiding, was observing part of the battle. Haku is quite smart. With his ability to analyze, he is able to create a counterattack just by observing a technique once. Let me tell you what you once told me. 'I'll tell you know, the same jutsu won't work on me twice,' was it?"

Kakashi shifted his stance has Zabuza leaped back to create some distance.

"Ninpo: Kirigakure no Jutsu." The mist thickened further and like the previous battle, Zabuza disappeared.

' _Fuck_.'

...

"Ohayo~!" Sakura said with grin stretching across her face. "Now where are you _fine_ gentlemen going on such a lovely day?"

"Who the hell is that bitch?" A man from within the crowd called.

"Oi! Didn't your mother teach you it was bad manners to use such language in front of a young girl!?" Sakura yelled, pointing at the general direction of where the voice had come from.

"Be quiet!" Gato shouted, silencing any further exclamations from the large group of ronin that stood behind him. "You." Gato said with a sneer, staring down at the small girl that blocked their road. "You're one of those ninja brats that were hired by that bridge builder, aren't you?"

"Hah? Ninja brats? You mean shinobi, mister. And isn't it obvious by the hitai-ate I'm wearing?" Sakura said, jerking her hand towards her forehead. Sakura tilted her head in confusion when a couple of men stepped out with smirks, hands all clutching their katanas.

"Then you should know, little girl, that I despise shinobi. The lot of you can just die!"

"Whoa!" Sakura exclaimed has she shunshined to the branch of a nearby tree to avoid the katana that one of the men had swung. "Oi! I could have totally died! What's your problem you old fart?!"

"Dispose of her immediately!" Gato snarled. Sakura was once again forced to move as a flying ax hit the branch she had been resting on.

"Hey! What the heck?" Sakura yelped.

"Some of you stay behind and make sure she's dead. If you can, perhaps take her hostage. The rest of you will continue to follow me to the bridge."

"Ara? Are you perhaps Gato then?" Sakura said as she shunshined back onto the road so that she was once again blocking the path. "You're just as hideous as I imagined. An ugly face to match your ugly personality."

"Silence you ingrate!" Gato screeched. "Kill her you brutes! Kill her!"

Sakura quickly substituted herself as the large group of men surged forwards.

"Ah. This is so troublesome. Kakashi-sensei said I couldn't do anything to them because it wasn't in the job description..." Sakura narrowly dodged a knife that was thrown.

"There! Get her!"

...

Kakashi relaxed marginally. What timing for Sasuke to activate his Sharingan. It was troublesome he had to both fight and protect Tazuna simultaneously, but it was manageable.

' _Just wait till I get my hands on her once this is over_ ,' Kakashi thought darkly as he thought of his wayward student. Just where the hell was she?

Kakashi was snapped out of his thoughts as Sasuke's chakra weakened considerably and a malevolent chakra filled the air. His eyes widened.

'Could Naruto's seal have broken?! No... This feeling... The seal's not off, but the kyuubi's chakra is definitely leaking. Fortunately, the seal is not completely broken.' Kakashi whipped out a scroll from his vest and threw it in the air. He grabbed it and spread the blood on his hand across the paper. 'I still have some time!'

...

'What... what is this feeling.' Sakura said as her body began to tremble. 'This feeling...' Sakura gritted her teeth as her chakra seemed to go haywire, reacting to the intense signature coming from the bridge.

One of the ronin noticed her lapse in concentration and lunged forward. Sakura narrowly dodged, but the damage was done. The ronin had managed to get cut her leg.

Sakura stumbled back, panting. She fumbled around her neck for the thin chain. The men weren't allowing her a single moment as they once again attacked.

"I... I'm sorry." Sakura mumbled.

"We got you now, brat!"

Sakura didn't look up.

...

"Do you know? What it feels like to not be needed by anybody?

"...What are you saying?" Naruto breathed out.

"Zabuza has no use for a weak shinobi. You took away my reason for existence."

"...Why? Why do you have to serve a guy like that! He receives money from thugs to do bad things... Is he really the only one precious to you?!"

"I once had other people special to me... My parents... But, this blood of mine..."

"Blood?" Naruto asked.

"Back in Kirigakure, after prolonged civil war, those with Kekkei Genkai were hated and feared."

"Kekkei Genkai?"

"It's special powers or jutsu that are passed down through certain clans genetically. Parent to child, or grandparent to grandchild. Because people with Kekkei Genkais were exploited in battle, they were hated and known as harbingers of death and disaster. After the war, they went into hiding. The greater your power, the more you were feared. My mother had a Kekkei Genkai. She kept it secret from my father. She hoped that for a while... No, perhaps she thought that we could live the simple life forever. But... Father discovered out secret. Father killed mother... And I... When I had come to, I had killed my own father. I knew at that moment, what the most painful thing was."

"The most... painful thing?" Naruto asked hesitantly, having an idea what Haku was going to say.

"That my existence didn't matter to anyone else in this world."

Naruto's heart thudded painfully. ' _Same with me_.'

"You told me, you wanted to be a great ninja and become Hokage and make everyone respect you. If someone comes along and accepts you for who you are, no one could be more important to you than that person. Even though he knew I was from a clan with a Kekkei Genkai, Zabuza took me in. The power everyone hated... He wanted it, needed it."

Naruto looked on as Haku's face softened further.

"I was so happy... I apologize, Zabuza-san. I wasn't able to be the tool you were looking for." Haku said as he stepped forwards toward Naruto. "Naruto-kun. I want you to kill me."

...

"It's over," Kakashi said softly. "Zabuza you were too full of yourself. Already, the fog is lifting, and the future is your death."

Zabuza glared at the masked nin, ignoring the throbbing pain from where the dogs were biting him.

Lightning danced around Kakashi's hand. "It's over." He repeated.

Kakashi dashed forwards.

...

"Gomennasai, Naruto-kun." Haku said as he held Naruto's wrist. He quickly made a few hand seals. "I cannot die yet." Haku disappeared in a flash.

...

Kakashi was quickly approaching the motionless Zabuza.

' _Is this the end?_ ' Zabuza thought helplessly as the man approached closer and closer. Zabuza's eyes widened slightly when someone suddenly appeared in front of him.

' _Why?_ ' Zabuza thought incredulously. ' _Why would..._ '

Kakashi felt his blood run cold. Why? He immediately tried to withdraw the chakra and stop himself before he could come any closer.

"What... What the hell are you doing there, Sakura?!" Kakashi yelled.

...

Sakura looked up dazed. She had shunshined to the bridge as fast as she could. To get away from it. Everything seemed to be moving in slow motion right before her eyes.

' _That's... Kakashi Sensei?_ ' Sakura thought as she looked at the panicked man. ' _His hand is glowing..._ '

Time started again and in a flash, a figure stood between her and her Sensei.

Sakura's eyes snapped awake as warm blood splattered across her face.

"H-haku?" Sakura whispered. Her eyes were drawn towards where the glow met Haku's body. She glanced towards the right. A bloodied mirror. Her eyes slowly moved around. A scroll with several senbon stuck through it. Her sensei with a pained expression on his face.

Slowly, she turned around. Zabuza. He looked shocked. She saw several emotions cross his face. Surprise. Incredulity. Pain. And an overwhelming amount of grief. The emotions were quickly hidden away.

"Zabuza-san..." Sakura immediately whipped her head back as she heard the weak voice of the dying boy.

"You said my future was death? You're off the mark again, Kakashi." Zabuza said with a wild look in his eyes.

...

"Hey... The fog has started to clear..." Naruto said as he glanced around. He froze when he saw the area where he knew Kakashi-sensei had been battling. "What the heck is going on here?"

...

 _The fire flickered weakly, before extinguishing._

...

'The boy... is already dead.' Kakashi thought as he looked at the boy whose hands still gripped his wrist in place.

"That was great, Haku." Zabuza said, his hands wrapped around the sword on his back. "What a great find I made. Even in his final moments, he created this perfect opportunity!"

'He intends to slash us along with the boy?!' Kakashi said as he attempted to move his wrist.

"Sakura, dodge!" Kakashi yelled as he wrapped his arms around the body and leaped back. "Sakura?!"

Sakura sidestepped the blade that crashed into the ground. It was much slower than when they had thought previously.

"Why are you doing that?" Sakura asked, voice trembling.

From his position, Naruto also voiced his disbelief.

"Naruto! Don't move and watch from where you are! Sakura! Don't disregard orders from your superior. Get away from him ** _now_**!" Kakashi yelled as he placed the boy down. The hand covered in the boy's blood was shaking. He closed the boy's wide eyes. "Sakura, this is my battle!" Kakashi said, anger starting to seep into his voice.

"It's not our battle anymore Kakashi-sensei."

"Sakura, don't be foolish."

"You brat, get out of my way!" Zabuza screamed as he swung his blade at the girl standing in front of him. Kakashi leaped to defend his student but was surprised when she landed a solid kick against the man's abdomen, throwing him back a couple of feet.

"Zabuza-san should conserve his strength." Sakura said softly. "You'll need it in a few moments." She glanced around before zeroing in on Sasuke and Naruto.

"Naruto, you seem to be alright. I'm glad. I felt that you were off, but it seems you've returned to normal."

"Sakura-chan... But Sasuke..." Naruto said, looking down sadly.

Sakura stumbled towards the two boys. She passed Naruto, briefly touching his shoulder. She knelt next to Sasuke who covered in senbon and lying unmoving on the wet ground.

Sakura's hand gently pressed against Sasuke's cheek.

"Sasuke..." Sakura's hand left Sasuke's cheek and snapped back, slapping the boy. "Wake up you moron!"

"Sakura-chan!" Naruto said horrified. "Don't! Sasuke is..."

"He's alive." Sakura said flatly. "Drained and injured, but definitely alive." She turned towards Sasuke and shook him slightly.

"Wake up already, Sasuke. If you don't wake up soon, I'll rip all of those senbon out so that you can't move for a week."

Kakashi looked on and let a sigh of relief escape. All of his students were fine. His head turned towards the missing nin who was still stunned from when Sakura had kicked him. Zabuza slowly stood up, rage written across his face and one arm dangling uselessly. Zabuza let out a war cry as he ran towards the silver haired jonin.

' _So this was why Sakura was able to hit him._ ' Kakashi thought vaguely. When Zabuza was right in front of him, Kakashi punched him and the man stumbled back. The man was open as a newbie genin.

Zabuza gritted his teeth as he regained his balance. He swung again but Kakashi disappeared. He felt a hand on his neck.

"You can't possibly defeat me the way you are now. You still don't know what true strength means, do you?"

"Goodbye, demon." Kakashi said as he drew two kunai. However, Zabuza was clearly not done. At the same time Kakashi moved to stab him, he swung his arm holding the blame backwards while he twisted in an attempt to hit Kakashi. Instead of killing Zabuza, Kakashi ended up piercing the arm swung at him, disabling it before he leaped back a fair distance towards his students. The great sword crashed and skidded on the ground, no longer able to be held by its owner.

Kakashi opened his mouth, but was interrupted by a large group of footsteps running.

"Ah, they're here." Sakura said dryly from behind him.

There stood Gato and a group of samurai panting with a look of anger in their eyes. A good bit of them had singed clothes while others had burns that ranged from first degree, to third degree burns.

"They're still alive?! Useless! All you shinobi are useless!" Gato howled.

"Gato, why did you come here? And who are those henchmen?"

"Hah?! Isn't it obvious? Hiring shinobi is pricy, so I hired nuke nin instead. It would be even more ideal for me to save my money if the ninja ended up killing each other off. You aren't even worthy of being called the Demon of the Hidden Mist Village!" Gato paused, taking a few breaths to calm himself. "If you were to ask me, you're just a cute little demon!"

"Baka. Antagonizing a shinobi at jonin level when he couldn't take down a measly genin." Sakura said.

Gato spotted the pink haired girl who was crouched next to a motionless boy.

"It's that freak again!" Gato screamed, pointing a finger at her, fear filling his eyes. "Why are you here!?"

"I shunshined..." Sakura said under her breath irritably. Louder, she said, "'I'm one of the ninja brats hired by the bridge builder.' Of course I'm supposed to be here. What are _you_ doing here? Was I not scary enough for you?"

"Freak! Monster!" Gato said. "Thanks to you, I lost at least half of my men! Just die already!" Sakura flinched. And Naruto stared at Sakura worried.

"Kakashi... I apologize." Zabuza said. "Since my reason to take down Tazuna is gone, my reason to fight you is also gone."

"Yeah... you're right." Kakashi agreed as he stared at the group of men all holding swords.

Gato stepped forward when he spotted Haku's body.

"This one," he hissed. "I owe him something. This bastard squeezed my arm until it broke." Gato kicked the boy's head harshly.

Naruto growled and there was a spike of chakra on the bridge.

"Huh, this one's dead." Gato said as he nudged Haku's face with his cane.

"You bastard!" Naruto and Sakura screamed as they ran forward. Kakashi grabbed both of the genin by the back of their shirts.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?!" Naruto screamed.

"I should have killed you!" Sakura snarled. "It would be better if people like you didn't exist!"

"Both of you stop! Don't act so recklessly!" Kakashi said as he gripped the two struggling genin.

Naruto shoved Kakashi's hand away as he turned towards Zabuza.

"Aren't you going to say something?! He was your comrade, right?!"

"Shut up, punk. Haku is already dead."

"What..? Don't you feel anything watching him do that! Weren't you with Haku for a really long time?!" Naruto yelled, his voice slowly rising.

"...As Gato used me, I was simply using Haku. I told you. We shinobi are merely tools. What I wanted were his skills and not Haku himself. I have no regrets..."

"Liar!" Sakura yelled as she too nudged Kakashi away. "You were definitely upset when Haku died! Why... Why are you pretending you don't care! Haku... you were his precious person. His pride, his life... He was willing to risk everything. You reached out to him when no one else would. Do you understand what kind of person that made you to him?!"

"Naruto, Sakura. Stop. He's no longer out enemy."

"Shut up!" Naruto screeched. "My enemy is still this guy!" Naruto said, pointing at Zabuza.

"He... He really liked you! He liked you that much!" Naruto said, voice trembling as he pointed at Haku's body. Even so, you say you don't feel anything?...Are you saying that you're going to ignore anything you do feel? When a person becomes strong, does a person begin to behave like you? He threw his life away for you!" Naruto said, tears gathering in his eyes. He felt a warm hand slip into his. He gripped it tightly. "That's... That's just too painful..."

"Brats... Don't say anything... anymore." They both looked up, stunned to see Zabuza openly crying. "Haku was... He wasn't just thinking of me. He was feeling pain inside for you while he battled you guys too. I know. He was too kind. I'm glad we could fight you at the end. It's as you say you punks. Shinobi are still human too. It may be impossible to become an emotionless tool. I've lost..." Zabuza smirked.

"Kid... give me a kunai!"

Naruto blinked slowly, before reaching down to grip the handle of his kunai. He tossed it and Zabuza easily caught it in his mouth. His eyes glinted with a feral light.

Zabuza was running towards Gato within seconds.

Gato scrambled back to hide behind the group of ronin.

"Enough! Take them down!" Gato commanded.

"Right!" They chorused, excited at the prospect of finally having an easy kill.

"Do you think you can win against this many by yourself?!" One of the men exclaimed with a smirk. The smirk quickly fell as Zabuza charged unflinchingly.

With a single kunai, Zabuza had already taken down 10 men within two seconds.

"Of course, I'll be helping him out a bit." Sakura said with a grin as she blocked a spear aimed towards Zabuza's back with her katana she had retrieved.

"It's her!" The men screamed, stumbling away from her. Sakura frowned.

Kakashi looked at Naruto where he swore his female student had been seconds ago. 'That girl...' Kakashi said, twitching.

Sakura easily followed behind Zabuza, disarming anyone who tried to attack him while staying out of the demon's way.

"O-oni!?" Gato said as Zabuza broke free of the crowd and headed straight towards him.

The kunai pierced Gato's chest and blood spurted from Gato's mouth. Gato managed to pull himself away, fearfully eyeing Zabuza's haggard body covered in wounds.

"If you're so eager to see your friend, just die already! Alone!"

"I don't intend to go to the same place as Haku... You're going to hell with me! It's no big deal. Once we're down there, we'll see if I'm a cute demon or not in hell!" Zabuza snarled. He ripped the kunai in Gato's chest out, slashing at the stout man once more, and then, finally, landing the final blow.

With a shriek, Gato tumbled off the edge of the bridge.

Sakura watched from a distance stonily. Another life gone. This time, she did not feel an ounce of guilt.

Zabuza looked up and glared at the rest of the men. They immediately backed away, clearing a path. A path back towards Haku.

The kunai dropped from his mouth as he muttered a single word.

"Haku..." Zabuza used the last of his strength to move towards the boy. "Haku... Haku..." His vision began to blur. He was really dying. He swore he could see Haku not to far from him.

'Zabuza-san.' Haku said with a smile.

"Now... it's sayonara now, Haku. Thank you for everything. I'm sorry..." He fell forwards, and his world went dark.

Sakura trembled slightly under his weight. She lifted up a one hand in a seal and moved them back towards the safety of the others.

"I apologize, Zabuza-san. But, you are not allowed to die here." Sakura said determinedly. She placed her hands over his wounds and the area began to blaze green. "If you died, Haku would be sad."

...

'Am I... dead?' Sasuke thought faintly. He slowly opened his eyes. He could make out the wood walls of the bridge builder's house. He spotted a blob of orange near where he lay. Naruto.

With a faint groan, Sasuke pushed himself up from the futon and winced at the slight pain the action had caused him. The blanket slipped off allowing him to see the multitude of bandages covering him. He twitched as he heard the dobe snore.

Sasuke unceremoniously lifted his foot and pushed Naruto's head with as much force as he could muster.

Naruto was woken rudely from his sleep as the back of his head connected with the floor.

"Itai!" Naruto yelled, rolling on the ground. He glared at Sasuke who looked satisfied with himself. "What the hell was that for, Teme?!"

"Your presence was irritating."

"The hell?!" Naruto raged, only holding himself back from pummeling his teammate due to his injuries.

"Where's Sa- Shusa and Kakashi?" Sasuke asked, ignoring Naruto's yells as he slowly got to his feet.

"Oh yeah! Well you were out so you don't know! So after you passed out, I thought you were dead! I got really mad, and I think I punched Haku at some point..." Naruto's face fell for a second. "I don't really remember actually... And so like Kakashi was beating Zabuza and Haku kind of came between them and... Sakura-chan came too... she looked really upset, but she was totally bad ass about it! Then Gato and his stupid lackeys came and tried to kill all of us, and I made this super cool speech, and then Zabuza got really mad and started fighting all of them. Sakura-chan was mad too and she was slashing like bam bam!" Naruto yelled waving his hands around in swinging motions.

Sasuke twitched. So Naruto and Sakura had been able to...

"Then No eyebrows guy totally owned Gato! His lackeys tried to kill us but then Inari came with all the villagers, it was awesome!" Naruto said, his eyes gleaming with pride.

"I'll just ask Kakashi." Sasuke said as he slid his shirt on. Naruto felt a vein pop.

"TEME! You didn't listen to a word you said, did you?!"

"I'm sorry, I was unaware you were speaking in the same language that normal people speak." Sasuke said with a smirk.

"I'll beat you to a pulp!" Naruto yelled, pointing at Sasuke. "Once you're all healed I'll pummel that smug face into the ground!"

"Will you brats shut the _hell_ up?" A voice grouched.

Sasuke stiffened as he turned towards the doorway where a very irate rogue mist-nin stood.

"How the heck am I supposed to rest with you guys screaming at the top of your lungs." Zabuza asked grouchily, scratching at his covered wounds.

Sasuke nearly fainted.

...

"Are you aware of what you did wrong?" Kakashi asked his female student seriously.

Sakura guiltily kept her eyes away from her the jonin that stood in front of her. She moved her head slightly to indicate she did.

"And what did you do wrong?"

"...I disobeyed orders, and moved without your consent." Sakura mumbled. Kakashi nodded.

"Exactly. What were you thinking, Sakura? The first time we fought Zabuza, I could understand, but this was completely out of line. Where were you when we were at the bridge? I specifically told you not to go after Gato, but you still engaged. And for Kami's sake, why the hell would you just appear in the line of an attack?! What if Haku hadn't been there? I could have killed you!" Kakashi almost spat out. _Rin_. "What if I had hit you?! Do you think you could have survived that? You are _very_ lucky Haku appeared between us."

Sakura looked miserable, her face red.

"I didn't mean to, I swear! I ran into Gato while coming here and I just followed them. I promise I didn't intent to engage them! It's just..." Sakura struggled to find the right words. "There was this massive sort of chakra and it startled me pretty bad so I uh..." Sakura coughed. "Burned a few of them on accident." Sakura said quietly.

"It was on accident!" Sakura said as she saw Kakashi have a strange look cross his face. "After that I sort of freaked out and tried to get to the bridge real fast so I wasn't paying attention. I'm really sorry Kakashi-sensei." Sakura mumbled.

Kakashi stared at her for a few more moments before letting out a large sigh that caused his entire form to slump.

"What am I supposed to do with you all...?" Kakashi said as he ran a head through his hair.

"I did tell you guys that those who abandon their comrades are worse than trash, but this," Kakashi said, gesturing with his hands at nothing. "You and Naruto need to learn there are times you need to obey superiors."

Sakura turned to stare at him and Kakashi got the same eerie sensation that he felt sometimes around his female student. Like she knew more then she let on.

"What?"

"Nothing." Sakura said, shaking her head. "Now, since this student is suitably repentant, is deeply shameful of her actions, and swears she will try not to do anything like this in the future, please let her down. I feel really dizzy."

"Ah, I should probably let you down, shouldn't I?" Kakashi mused. His female student was bound hanging upside down so that her face was about level from his. Her face had become nearly the same shade as her hair. He whipped out a kunai and placed it against the rope that held her suspended. He paused. "Try?"

"I was taught that you shouldn't make promises that you couldn't possibly keep for sure. If my comrades are in danger, then I'll save them no matter what my superior says. That's a promise."

Kakashi felt a smile twitch at his lips despite her disobedience.

"Well then, I suppose I haven't taught you well enough." Kakashi said as he swiftly cut the rope causing his female to drop to the ground with a thud. She let out a small yelp of pain before she began to struggle to remove her bindings. "Then I'm sure you can inform Naruto and Sasuke why you guys are training extra hard and going on D-rank missions only."

"Hai, Sensei," Sakura said dully, not meeting his eyes.

Kakashi raised his eyebrow at the muted response.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto screeched as he came into view. "Teme woke up but he saw Zabuza and is freaking out! Boss is trying to calm him but he's bat shit insane!"

Kakashi groaned.

"I'll be there in a sec." The Naruto clone nodded before dispersing into a cloud of smoke. Kakashi shot a glance at his student was already on her feet and swiftly making her way towards the house.

A crash prompted Kakashi to move as well.

...

"Teme! He's on our side! Put the chair down!"

"What the hell, dobe! He tried to kill us!"

"Yeah, but he's good now!"

"That doesn't make sense, you idiot!" Sasuke said as the chair was still held defensively in front of him.

"Listen to the blondie, punk. Put the chair down and be a good boy won't you?" Zabuza yawned.

Sasuke snarled.

"Sasuke, you're awake!" Sakura said as she burst through the door and hurtled towards Sasuke. She practically tackled him causing him to lose his balance and grip on the chair. He landed in a heap with Sakura sitting on top of him with a grin.

"Get off, Shusa. You're heavy."

"And you aren't very comfy." Sakura said, but sat stubbornly on his stomach. Besides, if I let you up, you might try to attack Zabuza-san with a... chair. You know the weapons pouches were in the travel bags, right?"

Sasuke glared at her.

"Zabzua is not our enemy anymore, Sasuke." Kakashi said as he strolled through the door. To Zabuza he gave a small nod of acknowledgement.

Sasuke glanced at the man before letting out a small sigh. He shoved Sakura off who moved away with no resistance.

"Whatever," Sasuke said as he brushed off his shirt before heading back towards the room.

"Wait, you believe Kakashi-sensei but not me?!" Naruto asked.

"Kakashi doesn't make this sort of stuff up or lie about this kind of thing. You and Shusa on the other hand..."

"What?!" Naruto and Sakura said simultaneously.

"How the heck is a man who always lies about why he's late to meetings more trustworthy than us?" Sakura asked vehemently.

"Now, now. How can you say that I'm lying? Your poor sensei-"

"Happens to get lost on the road of life, run into black cats, and encounter elderly who need help carrying their stuff?" Naruto butted in.

"On a daily basis," Sasuke added from where he was.

"And often uses the same excuse consecutively," Sakura chorused.

"..." Kakashi gaped at his students who were ganging up on him. He could see Zabuza snickering in the background. "Is it so hard to believe that your sensei wouldn't stop to help those in need?"

"Yes," came three firm responses.

Zabuza's mirthful cackle filled the silence.

* * *

Sakura gently set down the flower crown on the grave. She clasped her hands together and murmured lightly under her breath.

"May you rest in peace, Haku. May our soul be eternally blessed." Sakura opened her eyes and backed away so she stood next to Zabuza. The rest of her team had opted to help around the bridge seeing as they had already paid their respects. Sakura glanced at Zabuza who had dropped to his knees near the grave.

"...He was such a gentle soul. Back then, the way he looked at me..." Zabuza trailed off. "Those were the eyes that experienced war veterans carried. I offered to teach him so a small boy like him could defend himself in this world. In the end, perhaps I was the one who couldn't let him go. In some way, after all this shit was over, I wanted Haku to be able to return to a normal life where he wouldn't need to soil his hands while working with a dirty person like me. I wasn't able to do anything for him at all."

"I don't think that's true, Zabuza-san." Sakura said lightly as she walked past him towards the edge of the cliff. From here, she could make out the outline of the large bridge. "I don't think that's true at all. You reached out your hand to someone who had no one else to reach out for them. You provided a home to someone who had none. And you offered him a reason to live. For that, I know Haku was eternally grateful. To him, what you did was a debt he never felt could truly be repaid, so he decided to give his everything to you." Sakura faced Zabuza's stunned expression with a warm smile. "Zabuza-san, I believe you are truly a good man. Haku's path may have ended, but yours will continue on. It may be rough and it may be easy to lose track of sometimes, I am sure you will get to where you want to be. Even if you die, I don't think there's a reason why a demon can't go to heaven if they have someone waiting for you up there.

"So please, Zabuza-san, live on." Sakura said placing a hand on Zabuza's head in a comforting gesture.

...

If one asked Zabuza to describe what had happened, he wouldn't be able to do so.

Zabuza forgot to breathe, at the child's words and the indescribable feelings that swept over him. Everything about her in that instant seemed warm and welcoming. It was like falling asleep under a warm blanket after difficult missions in the harsh environments, it was the rare morning sun that would illuminate the hazy Kirigakure during the winter season. Her eyes flowed with pure fire and the slight, secretive smile she wore gave hint to a wisdom beyond his understanding; a far cry from the goofy smiles he had seen her sport before. The early morning sun behind her further added to the image giving her an almost ethereal appearance despite the plain dark clothes she wore.

When she made contact with his skin, his body seemed to surge with the warmth she exuded, and despite the death of his companion, his body felt lighter than it had in years. He felt for the first time in his bloody lifetime true peace. The cool wind whipped around the cliff scattering some of the petals from the flowers on Haku's grave and the sun seemed to shine brighter.

Without his knowledge, tears slipped from his eyes and dropped onto the grass still wet with morning dew.

" _Kami..._ " Zabuza breathed out.

The girl's hand drew away as her features became a bright red.

"...E-e-eh?! What... Ack! I'm so sorry Zabuza-san! I don't know what came over me! That was... Eek! That was so embarrassing!" Sakura exclaimed, breaking the atmosphere as she said as she ducked away, to hide her flushed face.

Zabuza stared in a slight daze as the girl who had basically curled herself into a ball from shame.

"Ah, that was so embarrassing. Don't call me that either. I haven't even done anything worthy of being called God of Shinobi. I couldn't save anyone. I'm not even tall enough to reach the third to highest shelf in the library and I act rashly based on my emotions and-" Zabuza chuckled as she continued to ramble about her faults, and his eyes widened at the sound that had escaped his lips.

"And I have bright pink hair that's just about as good for camouflage as Naruto's orange track suit is!" Sakura continued.

"I don't see what you're stressing about. You're still young and have plenty of time to grow and develop." Zabuza said with a hum.

Sakura paused mid-rant before she lifted her head and placed her chin on her arms to stare absently out at the blue sea.

"Yeah. There's still time," Sakura said softly. Zabuza looked at the pink haired girl, curious to as what expression she was making, but her back was turned towards from him. "Still time, but not enough."

"Well then!" Sakura said suddenly, startling Zabuza from his kneeling position. "I pretty much have the day off although I _could_ go back to the bridge... Er, Zabuza-san, are you okay?"

"I'm fine," Zabuza said gruffly as he got to his feet and brushed his pants.

"But it kind of looks like you're... crying?"

"Who's crying?" Zabuza demanded as he turned and walked away. His hand briefly went to his eyes and he was surprised to find a lingering wetness.

"Ah! Wait, Zabuza-san! Don't leave me behind!" Sakura cried as she ran to catch up with the man. "Don't walk so fast! Your legs are twice as long as mine and it's irritating to have to jog to keep someone's pace."

"Nobody said you had to walk with me."

"Yes, but I have a little present for you back at the house and I need a favor."

"A favor?"

"You're excellent at Suiton jutsu, right?"

...

"So the favor comes before the present?" Zabzua said with a raised eyebrow as they walked through the woods.

"I need to get this done before anybody happens to see." Sakura said with a groan. The forest started thinning out and the trees seemed to have shriveled up. When they finally broke the tree line, Zabuza's jaw dropped.

"Holy shit, kid. What the hell happened here?"

...

Kakashi's eye nearly fell out of its socket. He had followed the path that Sakura had taken to the bridge, and it was rather obvious where she had committed her 'little' accident. Stray weapons were wedged into the trees... and everything within a ten meter radius from the center of the path was completely obliterated.

* * *

"Itadakimasu!"

Sakura and Naruto dug into their food without abandon drawing a sigh from the rest of the team. Tsunami was smiling fondly at the two ninjas who had changed Inari for the better. Inari had found his confidence once more and had lost his constantly depressed attitude. The boy now sat next to Naruto animatedly chatting while stealing glances at Sakura, then the intimidating Mist nin that had sat next to her.

Tsunami turned to her newest most resident who was eating silently. The man had wanted to eat separately, but Sakura and Naruto had been insistent on him being there. Luckily, the man wasn't as scary as he would have usually been with the white rabbit sitting contently on his lap. Occasionally, he or Sakura would give him pieces of their food.

"Open up, Usagi-chan," Sakura said as she held out the fifth piece of lettuce that day. The rabbit sniffed it a couple of times before taking it in his mouth, slowly munching on it."

"Sakura, stop feeding the rabbit and _eat your vegetables._ "

Sakura froze as she quickly turned away and began picking at her plate with a small "Hai, Sensei."

"Stop bullying Sakura-chan, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled loudly, causing food to come flying out of his mouth.

"Shut your mouth, Dobe. It's disgusting."

"What was that?!" Naruto demanded, turning towards Sasuke.

Zabuza sighed. This was the reason he had hated kids.

"Done. Gochiso sama deshita." Sakura said, placing her bowls in the sink.

"Aww! Sakura-chan you're so polite!" Tsunami cooed as she squeezed the younger girl's cheeks. She had decided over the course of the shinobi's stay that if she ever had a daughter, she would want her to be just like the pink headed girl. Unfortunately, that possibility was slim to none, so she had taken to spoiling the pinkette instead. Sakura ducked her head a bit shyly.

"Standard manners. Will you need help with the dishes?"

"Iie. I've got it covered today, thank you. Go out and enjoy yourself." Sakura bowed gratefully before slipping out of the house.

Silence reigned as the conversation had slid to a stop.

"Ah~ If only my two male students had half the manners she did. We might have gone on higher ranked missions earlier." Kakashi said in a whimsical voice. Naruto and Sasuke's heads snapped to the man who was reading his orange book. Kakashi continued. "Of course, that seems mentally impossible for the both of them. So small minded..."

Sasuke and Naruto glared at their teacher, then at each other. They both finished their food in a rush and dashed up to Tsunami with their bowls.

"I'll wash your dishes, Tsunami-san!" They both said, albeit Sasuke's was much more toned down.

"Uh... As I told Sakura-chan, it's really fine. You guys have to leave with Tou-san soon anyway." Tsunami said, leaning away from the two boys' eager faces.

"Then I will help with lunch!" Naruto proclaimed.

"I'll help with lunch _and_ dinner."

"You can't do that! You're only allowed to help with one!" Naruto argued.

Zabuza watched this exchange with a dull expression. His eyes slid to the self-satisfied copy-nin who was currently reading with his chair tipped back. Kakashi looked up and caught his gaze, giving him a crinkled smile.

"They're so easy to tease." Kakashi said as a way of explanation. Zabuza snorted before he stood up and placed his own bowls in the sink with a small murmur of thanks. He left the house with the white rabbit perched calmly on his shoulder. Once, it had been his gift to Haku. Now, it was one of the last gifts left behind by Haku.

* * *

"I'm sorry!" Inari yelled, bowing a full ninety degrees. He had slipped out and followed Sakura as soon as she had left, determined to finally repent for his previous behavior. "I'm sorry I was really rude and a brat. I didn't mean to insult your teammates. I've already went and apologized to them. Please forgive me!" Sakura chuckled awkwardly, scratching her cheek.

"It's fine. I must apologize as well. My reaction was way out of hand; I shouldn't have hit you. I hope it didn't hurt too much." Inari looked at her with grateful eyes. The older shinobi was right. She was quite forgiving.

"Ha! Don't worry about that! Men don't cry over those things! Besides, you hit like a girl; it hardly hurt!" Inari said happily.

"Well then... Would you like this girl to punch you fully in the face, you manly crybaby." Sakura said with a smile. Inari flinched and felt sweat trickle down from his face rapidly.

"N-no ma'am." Inari stuttered, taking a few steps back in fear.

"Ha! I'm just kidding. Don't worry about it, kid. Kakashi-sensei would have my head on a stick if I tried that." Sakura said, patting Inari's hat. "Though if you choose to live in the future, I suggest you improve your choice in wording. Not all girls are as nice as me you see."

"Hai!"

"So is there anything else you needed?" Sakura asked awkwardly. Inari was still as he thought it over before his face brightened.

"Teach me how to be a super cool shin-"

"No."

"Why not?!"

"Besides the fact I'll have my head chewed off by my superiors? Well, when you give peoples a mean of fighting, there's a 99 percent chance they'll do something ridiculously stupid." Sakura said in a matter of fact tone. "Especially reckless kids like you. Leave the fighting for the professionals and trust the adults as well. They're tougher than you think."

"And they've got years of experience on you." A new voice joined them. Inari jumped, a surprised sound escaping his lips.

"Ah, you sure took you time walking here, Zabuza-san." Zabuza shrugged.

"No hurry." Zabuza said lackadaisically. He eyed Inari who was squirming in discomfort.

"Scram, brat." Inari hesitated for the briefest of seconds before bolting for the house. Sakura watched the boy go.

"Zabuza-san needs to work on his manners."

"Zabuza-san doesn't really give a rat's ass about manners," Zabuza rebutted easily, plopping himself down under a tree.

"Did you need something?" Sakura asked, cocking her head.

"I dunno. Staying in that house is awkward. I also have to think ahead about where I'm going to go after this." Zabuza said with a groan.

Sakura hummed, staring at the canopy of the trees, tracing the outlines of the leaves.

"...Go back."

"Excuse me?" Zabuza said incredulously.

"Go back."

"To Kirigakure? If I wanted to die, I could imagine a hundred different ways I'd rather die, not excluding jumping off a cliff." Zabuza said flatly. Sakura pouted.

"I didn't say to go now and throw yourself to the wolves. That would be stupid. I think... if you were to lay relatively low for a while, maybe wander around and see the world... if you return to the village a few years from now when everything is settled, then they'll accept you."

Zabuza stared at her with a doubtful expression.

"Stop looking at me like I'm crazy!"

"You want me to go back to Kirigakure. You are aware I am a missing nin...?"

"It's just a feeling, dammit! You don't have to listen to me, geesh!" Sakura stormed off quickly, face burning.

Zabuza chuckled before leaning back and stroking the rabbit on his lap.

Kirigakure... huh?

* * *

All of the occupants jumped when Sakura entered and slammed the door behind her.

"Er... Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked tentatively. Sakura stormed past them and escaped upstairs. They could hear a door close, albeit much more quietly than before.

"..."

"...Gah! Females. You live over 50 years and you still can never understand them." Tazuna said, slipping on his sandals.

"I might have to agree there." Kakashi added, as he shakily stood up. He had overused the Sharingan again. Back in ANBU he would have not been so drained... he was out of practice. At least he hadn't fainted and was able to get around with crutches. "Looks like it's you two on duty again." Kakashi said with a sigh, nodding to Sasuke and Naruto.

Sasuke left as soon as he finished and Naruto was right behind him, yelling again. Tazuna followed with a mild scowl at their energy.

Kakashi sighed as the house finally became silent. He stretched languidly, wincing at the slight muscle pain he felt. Time to train his body again.

...

"Kakashi-sensei! They finally finished, dattebayo!" Naruto yelled as he raced in. Kakashi eyebrow twitched slightly.

"One thousand and fifty." Kakashi said as he finished his curl-up.

"Kaka-sensei!" Naruto whined. "Aren't you excited to go home?"

"Very excited." Kakashi said flatly, ignoring how Naruto had shortened his name. "I suppose it's about time."

"Stop being so loud, dobe." Sasuke said as he also entered with Tazuna. "You do know your job is to protect the job builder, not run ahead and leave him."

"I know that, teme! But even a jerk like you has to admit he's happy to go back."

"Hn."

"You two lack in the art of subtly. I could hear the blondie a mile back," Zabuza's voice grumbled. "Ugh, I knew I should have just grabbed a room at the inn or something."

"Hey Eyebrows!" Naruto said cheerily upon spotting the large male.

"It's _Zabzua_ , punk. Where's the pink kid?"

"Sakura-chan? She's... upstairs?"

"What business would you have with my student?" Kakashi asked with a false smile, voice betraying nothing.

"None of your damn business, Kakashi."

"She is currently under _my_ guidance and _my_ custody so it is very much my business." Kakashi replied easily. They may not be enemies anymore, but those two seemed as if they were spending way too much time for each other.

"Why can't Eyebrows talk to her?" Naruto asked. "It's not like he's asking her to marry him or anything- YOU'RE NOT ASKING SAKURA-CHAN TO MARRY YOU ARE YOU?! YOU CREEPY PEDO! STAY AWAY FROM SAKURA-CHAN!" Naruto suddenly shrieked.

"Wha- Hell no! I've got about a decade on her. Get your head out of the gutter you punk!"

"YOU CAN'T HAVE HER! SAKURA-CHAN'S GOING TO BE-!"

" _ **Urusai.**_ "

Silence reigned the room as they slowly turned toward the girl in question. Her hair was mussed up and she was clutching a pillow in her arms.

" _ **Why do you have to be so noisy? Do you not have anything better to do? Do you know how hard it is to sleep with you screaming and raising your chakra as if there's a bloody war going on?**_ " Sakura said irritably, dark circles making her look all the more ominous. " **You all-** "

Sakura was cut off with a strangled choke as Sasuke, who had snuck up on her during her rant, shoved a protein bar down her mouth.

"Nngrphf!" Sakura spat out the protein bar and made a valiant effort to get rid of the lingering taste in her mouth. "What the heck, Sasuke?! Those taste disgusting! Why do you even still have those?! Ugh..." Sakura groaned.

Tsunami happened to waltz in with fresh ingredients from the market.

"Sorry I'm late! Dinner will be ready in half an hour so... what's going on?" Tsunami said as she observed the standoff in the room. Excluding Sakura and her raven-haired teammate, everybody else was huddled slightly on the opposite side of the room. Sakura brightened immediately.

"Dinner? Finally! I'll help Tsunami-san, since it seems tonight might be our final night here."

"Oh dear. Already? Then I better make this the finest dinner yet!" Tsunami said as she rushed to the kitchen, Sakura skipping right behind her.

"..."

"Bipolar-" Sasuke started before he blocked a pillow hurtled at his face. "-freak." Sasuke finished, heading upstairs with the pillow in hand.

Tazuna wiped the sweat off his brow, mumbling, "Women."

"Sakura-chan's so scary when you wake her up like that..." Naruto added.

"I can't wait to go home." Kakashi voiced ruefully. "My peacefully silent apartment awaits my return."

* * *

"What... is this?" Zabuza said, staring at the... food in front of him.

"I've never seen anything like this." Tazuna added.

Inari poked the blob of pale white on his rice with the end of his chopsticks. "I think it's alive."

"Itadakimasu!" Sakura and Naruto said cheerfully as they dug into their food.

"...Itadakimasu." Kakashi and Sasuke echoed as they began to slowly eat their food.

"Um... Kaa-chan. What's this?" Inari spoke up, unnerved as to how the shinobi were eating as if there were nothing wrong.

"Sakura-chan made it! I had my doubts, but it's all pretty good!" Tsunami said happily, popping a strange green roll stuffed with noodles into her mouth. Inari's face turned about the same shade as the roll.

"This is edible?" Zabuza said with genuine horror lacing his voice.

"It's not bad!" Naruto said, rice flying from his mouth. Inari's face took on a darker tinge of green.

"Er... I don't think I'm hungry. I'll go... fishing. Yeah, I'm gonna go-"

"Sit and eat. You'll never know if it's good or not if you don't try it." Tsunami commanded, stopping Tazuna who had also been rising from his seat. Inari gulped. His mother gave him a smile as she offered something smeared in white sauce. Inari stole a glance at the door, then to his mother who was waiting expectantly. He wouldn't be able to make it. Inari forced himself to open his mouth and his mother immediately shoved the thing which would cause his inevitable death-

"It's... good?" Inari said, stunned as his eyes popped open. His mother gave him a smug look before turning to her own dinner. Zabuza and Tazuna took courage in the fact the boy was not dead and also tried a piece of the side dishes laid out before them.

"Oh! It's not too bad!" Tazuna exclaimed.

"I suppose I've tasted worse." Zabuza said with a relieved sigh.

Sakura stared at the entire exchange, perplexed.

"I don't understand why everyone always reacts that way. My food is perfectly normal."

* * *

"Inari... You're going to miss us, aren't you?" Naruto said, lips trembling. "It's all right to cry. Go ahead and cry!"

"I'm won't cry!" Inari said, tears threatening to slip down his cheeks. "It's alright if you cry though, Naruto nii-chan."

"Is that so?" Naruto, turning away to hide the tears flowing down his face. Inari was crying just as hard.

'Idiots.' Sasuke thought.

"Gaahhh! I'm so sorry I'm late!" Sakura yelled as she skid to a stop. "I was saying my final farewells to- Are you guys crying?"

"I'm not crying!" Naruto and Inari both bawled.

"Err... okay then I guess." Sakura said awkwardly as the two boys tried to wipe away their tears.

"Thank you for everything you've done for us Tsunami-san, Tazuna-san. We'll be sure to visit if we can!" Sakura said, bowing politely.

"Oh! The pleasure was ours, Sakura-chan!" Tsunami said, bringing the girl in for a hug. "Thank you for all that you've done."

Sakura smiled happily as she separated from the older woman.

Kakashi closed his eyes happily.

"Team 7, let's go."

"Bye!" Naruto shouted, waving his arms as they walked away from the grand entrance of the bridge.

"Ja ne!" Sakura said, waving widely as she walked backwards. She turned around before skipping happily. "Finally! I can't wait to go home!"

"Yeah! Let's get ramen from Ichiraku when we get home, Sakura-chan!"

"Oh! I can't wait!" Sakura said, with a wide grin. "We can all go and it'll be our first team dinner to celebrate the end of a real mission!"

"Hah? All of us?" Naruto pouted, before a grin returned to his face. "Last one there has to pay!"

"Why should I go?" Sasuke said irritably.

"You're just afraid you'll lose and have to pay, teme!" Naruto said with a glare which was returned with full force.

"As if. It'll be you who'll have to pay, dead last." Sasuke said, picking up his pace slightly.

"You wish." Naruto said, speeding up so he was slightly ahead of Sasuke. Sasuke immediately sped up, shoving Naruto with his elbow as he went. Naruto felt a vein pop.

"Teme!" Naruto screamed.

Kakashi and Sakura watched as Naruto and Sakura walked ahead of them shoulder to shoulder attempting to slow and push the other down.

"Don't get too ahead!" Kakashi called. The boys walked on as if they had not heard, continuing to bicker among themselves;

"Why're you pushing me, teme!?"

"Me? That was you!"

"You started it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"..."

Kakashi could feel the atmosphere grow tense as he was left with his female student who had been avoiding him as much as possible after the bridge incident.

"...Is there something wrong?" Kakashi asked tentatively. Sakura refused to look at him, picking up her pace. Kakashi met her pace easily with his long strides. "Maa... A good team must have good communication, yes?"

"...You're upset with me." Sakura said with a frown.

"Hm?"

"You're really upset with me! You were super angry back in the forest because I didn't follow orders! Now Kakashi-sensei hates me!" Sakura practically wailed.

"Ah. That. Sakura, I already forgave you, calm down." Kakashi said, attempting to placate his female student.

"But you looked like you wanted to punt me off the bridge for not following the rules!" Kakashi winced at her choice of wording.

"I was just really... upset that I nearly hit you." Sakura's bottom lip trembled.

"But Haku still died!" Sakura cried. "I was careless! Had I been stronger, had I been at the bridge earlier... Then Haku could still be alive!"

"Nobody can sure what the outcome could have been. Haku could have died regardless of your presence." Kakashi said as he gently patted Sakura's head. "Just... try not to be late like that again." Kakashi saw regret still lingering in her eyes, so he added, "We are only human, we can't hope to protect everyone, so its important to protect at least the ones that matter."

Sakura stared at him, before whipping out her notebook out of nowhere along with her pencil. Kakashi watched as she furiously wrote down his words before snapping it shut. A smile crossed her features as she looked up to him.

"Un! I promise! Whatever happens, I'll definitely be sure to arrive before you do, Sensei!"

"Hey now, using me as a point of reference is a bit..." Kakashi trailed off as Sakura laughed freely, wiping away the small amount of moisture in the corner of her eyes. They walked along in companionable silence before Sakura broke it.

"They sound like an old married couple." Sakura mused. "Like the grumpy old man and woman who live a few blocks from Naruto's."

"I can see that." Kakashi said cheerfully, staring at his two students who were already quite a distance away from them. "Sasuke could act as the husband and Naruto as his wife." Sakura made a face.

"Sensei! You got it all wrong!" Sakura protested. "If anything, Naruto would be the husband and Sasuke would be the wife!"

"But Naruto complains and talks a lot more."

"Yes, but Sasuke's has the attitude of a royal princess from time to time. Besides, compared to Naruto, Sasuke has much more feminine aspects."

"Fair enough." Kakashi relented. "You seem to be getting along better with Sasuke lately." Kakashi said abruptly.

"Eh..? Oh. I suppose I did. Well, it's fine since we're going to be teammates for the rest of our career, right?"

"Of course." Kakashi said with a close eyed smile. He would definitely make sure that these three would not meet the same unfortunate fate as his previous team.

"Ah. Also, I meant to bring this up. You've been hanging around Zabuza an awful lot after the whole battle." Kakashi commented. Sakura stiffened.

"Well, I saved Usagi-chan for him so he was really thankful..."

"You know he's just going to eat that when it gets fat."

"He would not!" Sakura said whipping her head towards him, horrified at the prospect of the idea. "Usagi-chan was raised by both him and Haku! There's no way he would eat it!"

"Oh? Aren't you well informed?" Kakashi said. Sakura's cheeks puffed out as she realized she was being teased. "You wouldn't happen to know where he's going after all this..?"

Sakura hummed.

...

 _"I think I might take your advice."_

 _"?"_

 _"I think I'll travel for around two and a half years or so... Visit Haku from time to time... And then I'll face my village once I'm ready."_

 _A grin broke across Sakura's face._

 _"Really? That's great! What's with the change of mind, though? I thought you would... was it 'imagine a hundred different ways I'd rather die, not excluding jumping off a cliff'?" Zabuza gave her a light glare at the mocking tone._

 _"Well... I thought about what you said, and I also met this strange guy in town recently. Well..."_

 _"Zabuza-san," Sakura said solemnly. "Have you ever heard of the term 'stranger danger'?"_

 _"Who old do you think I am, kid?! I'm a grown man that can take care of himself."_

 _"Hai, hai..." Sakura said cheekily, gazing over the cliff side. The bridge looks really great in full daylight- crap. Crap, crap, crap! It's nearly noon! Ack! They'll have my head for being late!" Sakura yelped, scrambling past Zabuza and dashing towards the trees. "Bye, Zabuza-san! Haku!"_

 _Zabuza lifted a hand in farewell, a small smirk curling at the corner of his lips._

...

"He's going to travel for a while before going home, so I'm really happy for him."

"He's going back to Kirigakure?" Kakashi said in disbelief.

"Mhm. I think he'll be fine, though." Kakashi stared at her strangely.

"I see..."

"Man, I can't even see Naruto and Sasuke at this point!" Sakura exclaimed, squinting her eyes. "I really don't want to pay for three people and a black hole. I better catch up fast!" Sakura said as she broke into a run.

"Hurry up, Kakashi-sensei! Or you're going to be the one paying!"

Kakashi smirked. He never paid for his own food with company and he wasn't planning to start soon either.

"You should worry about yourself, Sakura~" Kakashi said as he easily passed his pink haired student and focused on catching up to his two wayward students.

"That's not fair, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura screeched. "Matte!"

Kakashi felt a light chuckle threaten to escape as he heard Sakura struggling to keep pace with him.

He never did end up asking about the destruction near the bridge in his brief interrogation.

* * *

 **A/N: Oh my god, how long has been since I've updated? Months D: ? The original goal was to post at least once a month... I apologize but I've been swamped with school work and making the chapters longer has been time consuming. I had some doubts about the scene with Sakura and Zabuza and the whole motivational speech, but _trust_ me: this is all part of the plot. It's taken quite a while, but finally! Thank you for the reviews that encouraged me to speed this up the past few days. Ah, and since the world seems to be 'ending' tomorrow as people have said... this can also be considered a final gift for those in the US :3**

 **~Tokumei Yurei**


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10:**

"You're late!" Naruto shouted.

"Ah, well I ran across a black cat and had to take the long way-"

"Liar! You suck at making excuses!"

"Now, now... Be respectful to your-" Kakashi started, but was cut off as Sakura interrupted.

"Ne, Kakashi-sensei. What are we doing today? Another escort mission? A delivery mission?" Sakura said, bouncing on the balls of her feet.

"Well-"

"Shusa, stop acting like a five-year old."

"Now Sasuke-" Kakashi began.

"Shut up, Sasuke!" Sakura screeched, stomping her foot on the ground. "I totally do not act like a five-year old."

"Hey..." Kakashi said, a twitch forming under his eye.

"Shusa."

"Sasuke!" Sakura screeched in irritation.

"Oi..." Naruto trailed off, feeling a bit left out. Naruto paused as he felt a chill go down his spine. He turned slowly to see Kakashi with a dark expression on his face. "Eep!" Naruto said as he jumped away. Sakura and Sasuke seemed to be too absorbed to notice what had occurred.

"You stupid Uchiha- Ack!"

"Gh-!"

Kakashi's hands came down harshly on his two students' heads and gripped it tightly. Sasuke grunted and attempted to break Kakashi's hold while Sakura was frantically flailing.

"Now," Kakashi said sweetly with a smile, "Is there anything you two would like to say?"

"It hurts, Kakashi-sensei!" Sakura whined. Kakashi's grip did not loosen.

"I didn't think so," Kakashi proceeded.

"Hey, wait a-" Sakura protested.

"So today we're going to pick up trash from a river and I expect _nothing_ but good behavior from the three of you." Kakashi said, looking his two misbehaving students in the eye. Sasuke grunted while Sakura stared back at him looking slightly confused.

"But we're always on our best behavior..." Sakura started. Kakashi sighed. Troublesome. He released Sasuke's head and Sasuke stepped away immediately, glaring at him while Sakura started crying in outrage. "Wait, why am I still being punished?!" Sakura wailed. Kakashi smiled in a way many would have found creepy, though Sakura did not seem to understand the dark undertone to his expression. Sakura continued to struggle valiantly while Kakashi watched on impassively.

...

 _Kakashi immediately retrieved his student's file after a two hour meeting with the Hokage about how a C-rank mission evolved into a dangerous A-class within the first day. The old man had looked ready to faint before he immediately lectured him about how irresponsible he was._

 _Within a minute, he was back in his apartment, dumping his pack and sitting on the bed, scanning the file. He raised a brow at the picture._

 _Sakura stared back at him with gleaming eyes and a mischievous grin. Red paint lined the bottom of her eyes and decorated her and some of her forehead. There was smudges of white paint all over her cheeks. Thinking back... hadn't Naruto painted his face in the same colors in his photo..?_

 _Kakashi shook his head as he got sidetracked. His eyes scanned though the file to see anything that seemed to be strange. Gender, female. Obviously. Birthday was March 28th... Birth parents... N/A? Kakashi's eyes widened. But she had said Haruno Mebuki and Kizashi-_

"Adopted _." The paper read._ _Of course. Kakashi clicked his tongue as he flipped the page. She wasn't native to Konoha either. An orphan brought in from near the border of Fire Country and Water Country by Team..._

 _'...Well shit.' Kakashi thought. As he immediately recognized the name that was written on the paper. Of course, the leader of that team had been dead for some years now, but... Kakashi continued to read, but there was nothing very notable besides this. It did say her physical abilities and stamina were low, but Kakashi was sure this was not true. There were also several cases of her going AWOL during classes. Kakashi frowned._

 _Kakashi flipped the file closed with an unsatisfied look. He collapsed on his bed with a sigh. He could,_ should, _ask his student for further details, but based on personal experience, she wouldn't be to receptive about it. Nobody liked to be asked about the deceased._

 _Kakashi groaned. And hell if he asked the Hokage about it. The old man had already looked smug when he had finally took on the team and had continued to look so every time they walked in to receive a mission, but if he showed that he cared... Kakashi shuddered. No, he wasn't that desperate. Not yet at least._

...

"Sensei?! My head's gonna explode!" Sakura cried out. And Kakashi snapped back to reality, releasing his grip on his female student's head. He had unconsciously been putting more pressure than he had intended to while he had been distracted. Sakura crumbled to the ground, gingerly cradling her head.

"Sakura-chan! Are you okay?!" Naruto said as he was immediately crouched at her side, hands nervously fluttering around anxiously.

"Yeah... I thought he was really going to crush my head for a second there. Oi, Kakashi-sensei! What was that for?" Sakura demanded.

"Ah..." Kakashi chuckled nervously. "Gomen, Sakura. I kind of drifted off. I didn't mean to grip your head so hard."

"...It's fine I suppose." Sakura said, but she was still staring at him wearily with her arms held protectively around her head.

"I am pretty sure we can file a law suit for child abuse and assault on minors," Sasuke mused. Kakashi shot him a mild glare, clearing his throat bringing their attention back on him.

"Anyway, as I said before, our mission is to clean up a river near Konoha that's gotten a lot of trash clogged up in it."

"Hey, Kakashi-sensei! Can you teach the one who cleans up the best a cool new jutsu?" Sakura asked with a mischievous grin. Kakashi saw flare of competition spark in the eyes of his male students as they suddenly garnered a whole new interest in the D-rank mission.

"Eh... Well I can't see why not... But I'm going to have to go pick something up before that then." Sasuke and Naruto were on their feet.

"Alright, let's go pick up that trash, dattebayo! Come on, Kakashi-sensei!" Naruto said as he began walking towards the exit of the training grounds.

"Dobe, you don't even know where we're going." Sasuke said through gritted teeth, but was right behind Naruto anyway, having no intention in losing in anything.

Sakura giggled and Kakashi stared at his female student warily.

"Quite manipulative, aren't you?" Sakura's giggles broke out into full out laughter.

"I have no idea what you're talking about, Kakashi-sensei," Sakura said as she finally managed to compose herself. "But you have to admit, now you won't have to listen to Naruto complain. And Sasuke needs some incentive. These missions have been making him restless..." Sakura's eyes seemed to lose their focus for a brief moment before she came back with a wide grin. "Now let's not let them go too far in the wrong direction, yeah?"

With that, Sakura dashed out of the training grounds calling for her teammates.

Kakashi sighed as he pulled out his beloved orange book. He supposed Sakura was right. It couldn't hurt to teach them a new jutsu or two from his wide arsenal...

 _'Gotta pick up some elemental paper now... Now where were we? Oh, yes. Oh, no Suki-chan... Don't give up on him yet. Satoshi is doing this for your own good...'_

* * *

"This was... not quite what I expected," Sakura said with a grimace, flinching at the spray of water.

"Agreed," Kakashi said as he shifted slightly to save his precious book from the water being tossed about in the air.

"That's mine, Teme!" Naruto shouted as he made a grab for an empty soda can with his metal grabber at the same time as Sasuke's did. Both of ends gripped the can, and both boys popped a vein in annoyance.

"Dobe, _let go_."

"I saw it first!"

"No you didn't!"

"I did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!" Sasuke tugged on soda can while simultaneously kicking water in Naruto's face. Naruto stumbled back and let go of his metal grabber to rub at his face, which caused him to trip backwards into the deeper parts of the river. Again.

Sakura took a couple of steps back as the water threatened to fall on her as a result of Naruto's dunk in the river.

"Damn it, Teme!" Naruto screamed as he reemerged. "That's playing dirty!"

"Hn."

"Why you-! Kage Bunshin no Jutsu!" A large cloud of smoke engulfed the area. Sakura coughed, staring with wide eyes as what look like dozens of Narutos were standing along the riverbank. "Let's do this!" Naruto roared, and his clones cheered back with equal fervor.

"Naruto!" Sakura shrieked as she jumped away from the river to avoid the shower of water that resulted from the large amount of clones bustling about.

"Sorry, Sakura-chan!" Five different Narutos yelled, but they didn't pause from their activity at all. Sakura retreated next to her teacher who watched the river with amusement.

"Are you not aiming to win anymore?" Kakashi asked as his student dropped her bag (only halfway filled with trash) and her metal grabber before brushing off any stray drops of water still on her armor.

"Are you kidding?" Sakura asked, pointing at the fray that had evolved into an all-out battle. "I'll die."

"Maa. You won't die-"

"Uwahhh!" Both of their heads whipped to the side as they saw Naruto, the clones seemed to all have been dispersed, being carried off by the swiftly moving river (now seemingly devoid of trash).

"Naruto?!" Sakura yelped in surprise. Sasuke sighed as he ditched his own bag and took off after Naruto.

"You idiot..."

Naruto screamed as he realized that the river fell away into a waterfall. He frantically attempted to swim against to current with no success. Naruto's eyes widened as he slowly approached the edge... then fell. Before he could open his mouth to scream again, he felt something grab his ankle, and soon after, he was jerked to a stop. His bag containing the trash he had collected crashed with a clatter on a lower branch.

"You Usuratonkachi." Sasuke said with annoyance. His right hand gripped Naruto's ankle, while the other grasped the wire that was wrapped around a tree branch that hung near the waterfall. Whereas most might have been immensely thankful, Naruto was extremely irritated. Being rescued by Sasuke didn't sit well with him since he was trying so hard to be on the same level as the damn Uchiha.

"Sasuke..." Naruto growled. Sasuke rolled his eyes.

...

"Oh, thank god you're safe!" Sakura cried as she flung herself at a dripping wet Naruto.

"Tch. I could have saved myself..." Naruto muttered. Sakura retracted from Naruto before tackling Sasuke as well. Sasuke stiffened as Sakura's arms wrapped around him.

"Are you two alright?! You guys fell off a cliff and, and-" Sakura stuttered, unable to form words.

"Relax, Shusa. I was rescuing the Dobe's ass like always. What did you think I was doing?" Sasuke said, trying to wriggle out of her grip. Sakura released him easily enough, but she was still insistently checking for any injuries.

"I... I don't know! Just don't do that kind of stuff anymore!" Sakura said softly, her hands restlessly moving about as if to do something.

"Eh? Sakura are you... crying?" Naruto asked hesitantly as he spotted the liquid that threatened to spill out of her eyes.

"What? No!" Sakura said as she rubbed at her face. "That's just the river water..." The boys watched silently as Sakura recomposed herself. When she had finally recovered, Sakura's reaction was much more violent.

"You idiots!" Sakura seethed as she punched the top of their heads. "Reckless, stupid, idiots! And Naruto!" Naruto jumped. "You may not like it, but shouldn't you be grateful Sasuke helped you out? Have you even said thank you?"

"But-"

"No buts! And Sasuke! Don't be so arrogant! It makes you seem like an immature brat."

"I-Immature... brat?" Sasuke stuttered before glaring fiercely at Sakura.

"You're one to speak, cry-baby Shusa. If this is how you're going to react to something this simple, I don't know how you plan on staying a ninja."

"Cry- Sasuke you jerk! I wasn't crying at all!"

Kakashi watched his students squabble with a deadpan expression.

"Might I remind you, this is a _D_ -ranked mission..." Kakashi said to no one in particular, a hand rising to rub his head. "You'd think they had just survived a war." Kakashi paused.

Well either way, Kakashi fondly looked at the three squabbling with each other, it was nice to see such bonds forming between teammates. Experiences like this is what they needed, so Kakashi thought.

"Alright, break it up!" Kakashi called, gaining the attention of his students. "As far as I can tell, Naruto was winning right up until he fell in the river and Sasuke was right behind him, also until he dived over to save Naruto." Kakashi waved Naruto and Sasuke's bags (both snagged by Kakashi as they returned from their tumble off the cliff) of collected trash with glee, gaining glares from the two boys. "So I guess the winner is Sakura!" Kakashi said cheerfully.

"What?!" Naruto and Sasuke yelled.

"Huh?!" Sakura said, just as surprised. "But my bag-"

"Is over where you left it while these two numbskulls lost theirs." Kakashi said, shaking the bags tauntingly.

"Eh..." Sakura said, helplessly glancing between her outraged teammates and her teacher.

"Now gather round, gather round!" Kakashi went on, dropping the two bags and pulling something out of his pouch. "If we are to further progress from here, you might as well try these now." The boys looked at the three slips of paper blankly while Sakura's widened in understanding.

"Elemental paper," Sakura supplied.

"Correct. I'm guessing that you've already tried it then?"

Sakura nodded.

"Tried what?" Naruto asked. "How is this going to help us?"

"So impatient. Just watch." Kakashi pulled out a slip with his free hand and held it towards the boys. The paper abruptly wrinkled towards the center.

"...A magic trick?" Naruto asked dryly. Sakura muffled a giggle while Kakashi sighed.

"No, that was chakra. As you know, there are 5 elements: fire, water, wind, lightning, and earth. Every person has an affinity to one or more of these elements, indicating what type of jutsus they can use. That is your chakra nature. Most people will have one affinity or nature. There are others who will have two natures, and most do at jonin level. There are cases where people may have three natures, but it is much rarer. Having more four or more, well, to say it's nearly nonexistent wouldn't be an understatement. There are special cases like where people may be able to use two or more elements simultaneously and combine them as result of their bloodline limit to use a different type of nature as well as the ones they have. The Shodaime Hokage, for example, had an earth nature and water nature he could use simultaneously to create the wood style, and he has been the only one to have been able to do so. Haku was also able to use two natures. His ice was created from the combination of his water nature and wind nature. As for the paper," Kakashi gestured at the two remaining slips of paper. "If you put your chakra into it, it will react according to the nature of your chakra. If it is fire, it will burn. If it's water, the paper will become wet. If it's earth, it'll crumble into pieces. If it's wind, the paper will tear. And finally, it'll wrinkle if you have lightning nature like mine. Questions?"

Sakura gaped. "...I think this is the most instructive thing you've taught us so far- scratch that. This is going to be the most instructive thing you're _ever_ going to teach us."

Kakashi gave her a mild glare while the two boys all but snatched the papers out of his hand.

"You're words hurt me right here," Kakashi said, gesturing towards his heart. Sakura rolled her eyes. They heard the crinkling of a paper and turned towards Sasuke who had a surprised expression on his face.

"I'm... lightning..." Sasuke said in a confused tone. "But everybody in my family is-"

"Just because your nature is lightning, doesn't mean you can't necessarily use jutsus of other elements. It is just immensely difficult to do so. But..." Kakashi gestured towards the paper in Sasuke's hand.

The wrinkled paper had started to burn slowly.

"You have some fire nature in there as well." Kakashi said. Sasuke nodded, looking relieved and pleased.

"Kakashi-sensei! Look! My paper split! That means... I'm a wind nature right! Take that Sasuke! I'll blow you away!" Naruto said as he hopped around with the two pieces of a cleanly sliced paper.

"Shut up dobe. You only have one nature, I have two." Sasuke said.

"Teme!" Naruto screeched.

"Now, now. Calm yourselves. It's nothing to get worked up about. Ah, also, I should mention. Depending on your element, you will have both strengths and weaknesses." Kakashi picked up a nearby branch and started tracing symbols in the dirt. He drew the symbol for fire, then in a clockwise direction wrote the symbols for wind, lightning, earth and water. Kakashi tapped the fire symbol. "Fire is strong against wind while wind is weak against fire. Adversely, wind can support fire," Kakashi said as he drew an arrow from the fire symbol to the wind symbol with the kanji for strength over it. He also drew an arrow from wind to fire, writing the kanji for weak under it. Sasuke shot Naruto a smug grin.

"But, like fire is weak to water," Kakashi said as he drew and arrow from water to fire, "lightning is weak to wind." Kakashi drew another two arrows between lightning and wind.

"Ha! Take that, Teme!" Naruto said triumphantly.

"Maa. Don't get so conceited, Naruto. Might I remind you your wind is also weak to Sasuke's fire. I'd say you two balance each other out quite nicely." ' _Thankfully,_ ' Kakashi thought inwardly. "But, I have to say, that is quite interesting."

"What is?" Naruto asked.

"Wind nature is quite rare among the five natures. Even in the Wind country, the number who have wind nature is far and few in between. In Konoha, I can only think of about two others who have it." _Three if he included Minato-sensei._ "Wind is powerful in its own right, but it has a lot of supporting qualities as well. With it, you can amplify the jutsu of people with water nature or fire nature."

 _"_ Aw Yeah!" Naruto cheered. "I'll become the best Hokage who's ever lived!"

"Shut up, dobe." Sasuke said. He was quite pleased about having two natures to care about Naruto's rare wind nature.

"What about you, Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, causing Sakura who had been crouched next to the diagram to jerk.

"Huh?"

"What's your chakra nature?"

"Oh... Hehe. It's fire. Just fire."

"Eh? That's still so cool!" Naruto said.

"Yeah, I suppose." Sakura said a bit mutely. Sasuke cocked his head. Was the Shusa actually jealous?

"Are you jealous?" Sasuke blurted out. He quickly closed his mouth as the words escaped his mouth. Sakura didn't seem too offended.

"Ehe... Kind of. Naruto has wind and Sasuke as lightning as well as fire. I kind of wish I had something else..." Sakura trailed off.

"Maa. Fire is still good." Kakashi said, trying to pick up the awkward mood that had settled over the group. "We'll just have Sasuke use lightning as a main, Naruto as wind, and you as fire."

Sakura paled.

"Um, I'd actually prefer to stick with the non-nature stuff. Like fuuinjutstu, kenjutsu, and iryo-ninjustu if you don't mind."

"That's fine as well," Kakashi said. Sakura shifted uneasily as Kakashi continued to stare at her.

"Ah, you see. Once when I was cooking, I burned myself at the stove pretty badly and I had to go get it healed. After that, I don't particularly like using it beyond simple practice and exercise." Sakura said sheepishly as an explanation.

"I see," Kakashi said with unreadable eyes. He grinned and ruffled his female student's hair, ignoring her initial flinch and yelp. "A fire nature scared of fire. How cute." Sakura stared at him with wide eyes as he took his hand off. She turned away to fix her hair, but Kakashi glimpsed the blush on her face and her red ears. Oh, this was new. His female student seemed embarrassed.

"I'm not scared..." Sakura mumbled.

"Sakura, I believe you've won a jutsu off of me, yes?"

"No thanks. You can teach one of the boys. I don't like winning by default."

Kakashi clapped his hands together. "Hm, okay~ Guess there's no winner at all then!"

"Whaaa?!" Naruto whined. "Hey, this isn't fair, dattebayo! I worked super hard!"

"Hn."

"Oi, Sasuke, stop grunting and say something!"

"...Shut up, dobe."

"At least have the decency to call me by my name, you Teme!"

"And there they go," Kakashi said with a sigh. He turned towards Sakura who was watching the boys with fondness.

"Like I told Sasuke, just because your chakra nature is fire, it doesn't mean you can't learn other elements. There are also some jutsus you can do that don't require nature chakra at all, just your regular chakra. I could teach you if you'd like," Kakashi offered, but Sakura was already shaking her head.

"I've seriously tried, Kakashi-sensei. Heiki-san even helped out a bit, but no go. Apparently I'm meant to burn brightly," Sakura said with a dramatic sigh. Kakashi almost snorted.

"Well, if you need anything..."

"Seriously, Kakashi-sensei. I'm fine. You're actually kind of being overbearing." Sakura paused, a grin breaking out on her face. "But, thank you, Sensei. You're not all bad."

"Eh, now I know I'm pretty handsome but I might be a little old for you..."

Sakura flushed, much to Kakashi's amusement.

"I take back what I said. And how would who's to say you're handsome?! We can't see three-quarters of your face!""

* * *

 _Mission Rank: D_

 _Client: Genchi Shoro_

 _Description: Harvest and collect the berries that grow on the western side of the mountain on the rocky cliffs. Obtain 4 cartons of wild strawberries, 2 cartons of raspberries, and a single carton of both blackberries and blueberries._

...

 _Mission Report:_

 _We obtained the berries fine, but we ran into a family of wild bears: a mother and her three cubs. They seemed to want the berries, and somehow Naruto must have antagonized the mother. We were running around for the entire day, and there were a couple of close calls. Mother bears are very persistent._

 _Haruno Sakura_

* * *

 _Mission Rank: D_

 _Client: Civilian Committee_

 _Description: Repaint the fence between Genji's general store and the crossroad with the white paint provided._

 _..._

 _Mission Report:_

 _Repainting took about an hour._

 _Uchiha Sasuke_

* * *

 _Mission Rank: D_

 _Client: Shinji Chiba_

 _Description: Pull out the weeds in the client's lawn._

 _..._

 _Mission Report:_

 _N/A_

* * *

 _Mission Rank: D_

 _Client: Wife of the Daimyo_

 _Description: Find and bring back the client's cat. Picture is included below._

 _..._

 _Mission Report:_

 _It was hell._

 _Haruno Sakura_

* * *

 _Mission Rank: D_

 _Client: Jiro Shuei_

 _Description: Help the client unpack and organize items for the grand opening of the shop._

 _..._

 _Mission Report:_

 _Why does the man have so much damn stuff? It was super boring, give us something more exciting._

 _Uzumaki Naruto_

* * *

 _Mission Rank: D_

 _Client: Kure Ryu_

 _Description: Collect the enlisted herbs and deliver it to the client's pharmacy._

 _..._

 _Mission Report:_

 _We found and delivered the herbs._

 _Uchiha Sasuke_

* * *

"Jiji! Why can't you give us a harder mission?! These are all so lame!"

"NARUTO! How dare you speak to the Hokage like that?! I'll have you know the rest of the genin in your generation are taking the same sorts of missions! Now if you have the time to be complaining about the missions you get, then improve your mission reports! They've gotten progressively shorter and one you haven't turned in!" Iruka scolded them.

"Actually, that mission report was Kakashi-sensei's responsibility," Sakura offered. "Apparently he was being a very irresponsible superior and skipped out on it."

"Now, now, Sakura. I don't believe we've ever agreed that I would partake in writing the mission reports."

"Sensei! We said we would take turns!"

"Ah. _I_ agreed that _you_ three were going to take turns."

Sakura slumped in exhaustion. "...I give."

The Sandaime twitched as Iruka and Naruto continued to yell at each other and Sakura and Kakashi bantered with each other.

" _ **Enough**_."

The room went quiet, and all eyes immediately turned to the old man.

"Now then, Team 7. I'm afraid Iruka here is right in some aspects. If you don't improve your mission reports, I don't see why I should give you higher ranked missions."

"With all due respect, Jiji," Sakura said with a deadpan look. "It is very hard to write a long report on things like painting a fence. However, if you'd like, next time we'll include the intricacies on the delicate techniques we used to paint such a long stretch of fence with stark white paint."

Some of the members of the civilian committee sitting around the table gasped at the girl's audacity while Iruka had started twitching like mad.

"Sakura... you-!"

"Wuhaha!" The Sandaime broke out in laughter, causing everyone to jump. "How interesting! I thought Naruto here was the only one, but it seems there is another fearless youngster on the team."

Sakura and Naruto flushed.

"I don't think anything I say will change your behavior, but..." the Hokage stared at them critically. "Sakura, please try to keep your personal opinions out of mission statements."

"...Hai."

"Naruto, please... just... don't let your mission reports be along the line of, 'it was super boring' and 'it sucked'."

"Why not?" Kakashi glared at Naruto who shrank under his gaze "Fine, fine. I got it. No 'boring', 'suck-ass' missions then..." Sakura thumped his head for his language.

"Sasuke, your reports are too short. Concise, but short."

"Hn."

"And Kakashi... Please set an example for your students and actually _turn in_ your mission report." Sakura and Naruto snickered.

"Hai, hai. I'll try to remember that," Kakashi said, swatting his two giggling students.

"Now then, Team 7. I believe Tora has escaped again..."

* * *

 **A/N: HOLY CRAP! I UPDATED XD. Technically, it's not finished since I intend for each chapter to have about 10k words, but I ended up taking a huge chunk out of this chapter because of poor planning and have decided to edit it a bit. I'm trying to add more character development and I'll try to drop more hints about Sakura's ability. It's not incredibly obvious, but what do you think it is? Also, I decided to release this chapter despite it's incompleteness because, well, it's a late-Christmas-Happy-New-Years Gift to you. Sorry I haven't been updating, but I suppose it's lack of inspiration? Anyway, I hope you like this last chapter of the year post, and have a Happy New Year wherever you are in the world!**

 **...I'll try to get another chapter out before things start getting hectic again... x_x**

 **~Tokumei Yurei**


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11:**

"Today we're going to partner up and spar. I will be giving you feedback and pointers based on your form and tactics," Kakashi announced as they finished their warm-ups.

"We're doing actually training?" Naruto asked with excitement.

"You're actually teaching?" Sakura said skeptically. Kakashi coughed, giving Sakura a baleful glare.

"Remember that I did teach you in Nami no Kuni how to send chakra to your feet, and I even helped you with your natures-"

"Nami no Kuni was _ages_ ago, and I already knew my nature long ago. You are going to step up your game and actually be more like a teacher, right?" Sakura asked with a sharp glint in her eye. "You are taking your job seriously, aren't you?"

"Of course I am..." Kakashi said with a smile. Of course, the fact that he had intended to fail them and hadn't actually had experience teaching didn't really matter, did it?

"How about a couple of jutsus then?" Naruto asked, practically bouncing about.

"Later. I'll hone and perfect your basics first, since a strong foundation is essential in order to become stronger." Naruto wilted.

"...He's actually serious," Sakura said with a shocked expression. This time, Kakashi flicked her forehead, causing her to stumble back.

"I keep telling you, Sakura. Respect," Kakashi chided. Sakura's brows furrowed. "How about we pair up and spar for today so I can see any glaring weaknesses you might have. How about... Sakura. You and Sasuke go first, no holding back."

"Can Naruto go in my stead?" Sakura asked Kakashi. "I really need to take a piss, and I've been holding it until you came."

Kakashi almost faltered at how bluntly his female student had put it and waved her away. "Of course, of course. It's fine."

"Get ready to get your ass kicked, Sasuke!" Naruto shouted.

"As if," Sasuke snorted, gaze lingering on Sakura as she hightailed it out of the training grounds.

...

"What are you doing here?"

Sakura flipped a page of the book, eyes rapidly scanning the text.

"Oi," the voice said more irritably.

"Can't you see I'm playing hooky?" Sakura said shamelessly.

"I can see _that_. I don't see why you're playing hooky _here_." Kantoku glared as the young shinobi pouted.

"I thought you liked me."

"I tolerate you. Why the hell are you even playing hooky? If you plan on being 'the God of Shinobi', shouldn't you take training seriously?" Kantoku said, rapping her lightly on the head with his cane. Sakura winced.

"Being God of Shinobi doesn't just mean being able to fight really well," Sakura grumbled. "True power is knowledge. Information and knowing the truth is what gives you the upper hand in any situation. Besides, it's sparring today. I don't want to fight my teammates."

"You didn't seem to have a problem fighting back when you first entered the academy," Kantoku grouched.

"I didn't know better and it was an accident. I don't want to fight anybody unless necessary," Sakura said stubbornly.

"Right, right. Fine. Stay if you want then. Don't come crying to me if you get in trouble."

"Yes, sir." Sakura heard the librarion return to the desk. She sighed as she rubbed her eyes as she yawned, shutting _The Founding of Konoha. "_ 'Founding of Konoha' my ass," Sakura grumbled. "Whoever wrote that was high off his rockers." Sakura unconsciously reached for the metal band hidden under her armor and shirt. Time for another field trip then.

...

When Sakura didn't return about half an hour later, Kakashi told himself it was because it was probably a female problem.

After an hour had passed, he told himself it was perhaps a severe case of diarrhea.

After two whole hours had passed, he was forced to accept his female student had either fallen asleep on the toilet, been kidnapped or assassinated, or was playing hooky. Either way, it did not seem she was coming back.

"Sakura-chan ran for it," Naruto said in a matter of fact tone as Kakashi's patience wore thin.

"Way to state the obvious," Sasuke said. Kakashi's eyes twitched.

"Both of you, another hundred push-ups. I'll know if you don't do it."

Kakashi ignored the sounds of protest as he walked away(making a quick shadow clone to watch over his remaining students), trying to sense where his missing student was. He could now narrow it down to her being kidnapped, assassinated, or playing hooky because she was nowhere close to the restrooms closest to the training field. There were mentions of her being AWOL in the academy, but she wouldn't have carried the habit over to her genin career, would she?

"What a handful," Kakashi said as he decided to take his time searching out for his wayward student. "This isn't some form of protest for reading Icha Icha, is it?"

Kakashi soon found it wasn't and his female student had very much kept the habit of going AWOL. Sakura was shifting nervously with a guilty look on her face as she stood at the entrance of the Hokage tower with a stack of scrolls and books in hand.

"Why hello there, Sakura. I too was going to go visit the Hokage. Fancy meeting you here." Kakashi said with a smile.

"Kakashi-sensei, you see... There's a perfectly good explanation for this."

"And that is?"

"..." Sakura bit her lip. "Sorry?"

"For?"

"...Ditching."

"And?" Kakashi prompted.

"Lying..."

"And?"

Sakura furrowed her brows in deep thought. "Um... For wasting your time, I guess?"

"Correct. Perfect score, Sakura-chan. Now if you could be this pleasant and listen to my directions the same way."

"Hai," Sakura said, bowing her head.

"Good. Expect severe punishment for making me waste energy," Kakashi informed his student. "I'm tripling your training tomorrow."

Sakura choked.

"T-triple?!"

"Oh? Did I say triple? Sorry, I meant quadruple your training tomorrow. I'll triple your training today."

Sakura nearly dropped the scrolls and books in her arms, her mouth opened and closed, not knowing how to respond.

* * *

"How cruel," Sakura said as she rubbed her aching muscles after a quick shower. "Kakashi-sensei's so harsh."

Carefully, she made her way around all the books and spare scrolls she had lying about and... was that an ink bottle on its side? She really needed to clean. She dropped onto the bed, flinging her towel to the side. She moved some thick medical textbooks to the side as she picked up the scrolls and books that the Sandaime had lent her with a warning not to damage or lose them. There was a glint in his eye as he had handed over a couple, saying she might find something that interested her. She opened a thick book that looked ready to crumble and had flecks of what might have been blood. The handwriting on the first page was rough, that of a child's.

 _Year XXXX, October 23_

 _Today, I turned five years old. I will start joining the grown ups in battle. Kaa-chan said I should write to leave something behind should something happen. I'm scared. I don't want to fight. I don't want to kill anyone. I don't want to die. Will my younger brothers also be fight? They're too young. I hope this war ends before that happens, but this war has gone on so long... I don't get why we're still fighting._

 _-Hashirama_

...

Sasuke dropped onto the bed, exhausted from the extra training the petulant jonin had added after he had dragged Shusa back. He hated that he was exhausted; Itachi wouldn't have been exhausted. Itachi was already an ANBU captain at this age. Shusa had had her training tripled and she still looked better off then he had.

His eyes strayed to the photo of Team 7. Kakashi's eye crinkled into a smile with his hands placed on the two boys' heads. Sakura smiled peacefully in the middle, in that ridiculous costume. Sasuke resisted the urge to throw a kunai at her picture and instead fell back into his bed.

" _Sasuke. I... I'm going to be strongest shinobi in this world. I'm going to become the God of Shinobi. Stronger than Senju Hashirama, and stronger than Uchiha Madara. Stronger than all of shinobi of legend. I want to- I will become the pinnacle of power. And then..._ " _Sakura trailed off, closing her eyes._

Sakura had never finished her sentence, and Sasuke had walked off before she could have. That was years ago.

Around the time she had become _Haruno_ Sakura.

Sasuke shut his eyes tiredly.

...

Naruto jumped into his bed happily. Today was a great day. Nothing exciting, but he had gotten to spend the day with people who didn't hate him. Excluding maybe Sasuke, but Naruto knew he cared in his own way. At the very least, none his team stared at him like he was a monster. Naruto snuggled into bed. This was fine. Things were fine like this.

It was like he was any other kid, and not a jinchuuruki to be feared.

* * *

Sakura was going to kill Kakashi. He had indeed quadrupled her training. Quadrupled her tripled training from yesterday that is. She was sorely tempted to ditch the heavy armor and extra weights that she had adorned but she gritted her teeth through it. At this moment, she was glad that Heiki-san and Kantoku-san had pushed her as much as they did or she would have collapse ages ago.

Naruto was sending her glances of pity, looking torn between being a good friend and joining her extreme regiment and staying out of it. However, it seemed not even Naruto's strong loyalty could sway him into joining her.

And she had lost count of what lap she was on. Not good.

"You're doing well, just a couple more hours..? Ah, well if you keep up this pace, you should finish sometime after nightfall," Kakashi said cheerfully from his spot in the tree. Sakura almost flung a rock at him. She didn't, but she tripped over one and nearly fell.

"Ooh. That was close. You need to pay attention to where you're running," Kakashi said with a click of his tongue.

"I was taught that using vulgar words is looked down upon in our society," Sakura said between breaths. "But I want you to know, Kakashi-sensei, that I think you're an asshole."

"Why, thank you Sakura-chan. You're not the first to think so. I do agree my personality is just about the best thing about me. Well aside from my dashing good looks."

"We can't even see most of your face!" Naruto screeched, having been listening on to the conversation. "For all we know, you're butt ugly behind that mask."

Kakashi looked offended.

"I'll have you know that this teacher's charming face has captured the hearts of both men and women," Kakashi said in a somewhat proud tone. The genin turned to stare at him with wide eyes that set Kakashi on edge.

"Why'd he change his speech pattern?" Sakura muttered.

"So he swings both ways?" Sasuke asked, his eyes seeming to see Kakashi in a new light.

"Does that mean you've hooked up with a lot of people?" Naruto questioned. "Though I still bet he's probably hiding something weird..."

"I mean he's rumored to have copied over a thousand jutsus... For all we know-" Sakura started, drawing curious gazes from Sasuke and Naruto.

"Now, let's not get carried away there." Kakashi said as he appeared behind Sakura, hand landing firmly on top of her head. She let out a small yelp of surprise. "I'm surprised you think you have the leisure to chatter away, Sakura- _chan_. Perhaps this training isn't enough... shall we quin-"

"Sakura-chan is going right now," Sakura said with a pale face, continuing her laps.

"Oh, and Sakura," Kakashi called after the girl. "If you've lost track of how many laps you've done, start over from... why don't you start from zero again?"

"****!"

...

"Naruto, you will be sparring with me while Sasuke, you will be repeating your upper body regiment part of your training." Kakashi announced once the two had finished their usual warm-ups. Sakura was still running, glaring darkly at him from time to time. Sasuke looked discontent and Naruto looked offended at being singled out. Kakashi sighed and went on to explain his reasoning.

"Naruto, you have great strength and stamina, but you lack strategy and planning like Sasuke. You're reckless and you usually attack head on. On the other hand, Sasuke lacks the same stamina and upper body strength you have." Kakashi said patiently. Both boys scowled.

"Wait, what about Sakura-chan?" Naruto asked, gesturing to the girl who was working on her push-ups.

"Her stamina is not bad, and neither is her strategy. She seems rather lackadaisical considering her goal in comparison to Naruto. There are also other issues... And not to mention the team as a whole has quite the short fuse when it comes down to it." Kakashi finished.

Sasuke looked miffed at being grouped with the other two.

"Now let's get to work you two. Of course, if you don't want to, you're welcome to join Sakura over there."

"BRING IT, KAKASHI-SENSEI!" Naruto yelled almost immediately, very much not wanting to join Sakura. Kakashi's lips twitched in amusement.

True to Kakashi's predictions, Sakura didn't finish until long after nightfall. Sasuke and Naruto had already headed home (Naruto a bit reluctantly) while Kakashi stayed to keep an eye on his female student. She seemed to be set on finishing the entirety of the training that he had assigned.

"You don't have to do all of it, Sakura-chan. You should go home and rest. Skipping meals isn't a good thing either." Kakashi said, glancing at the night sky with a frown. "If you're so eager to do all of it, just finish the rest tomorrow."

"No... today. A-almost done." Sakura said. She looked slightly sick and on the verge of collapse. Kakashi sighed, wondering if he should just knock her out. The normal amount of training wasn't all that rigorous, but twelve times that was something Gai might have come up with. But she was already close to finishing, it wouldn't hurt to let her just complete it, would it?"

Sakura pulled her chin up to the bar with trembling arms before dropping to the ground in a heap. "That's... it I think," she said with a relieved moan. Kakashi stood up, stretching his body.

"Good work today," Kakashi waited for a response. Kakashi said with a sighed as he realized that she had fallen asleep soon after she had hit the floor. "Sakura," Kakashi said as he poked her cheeks. "You can't sleep here."

"Don't wanna move," Sakura groaned as she swatted at his hand.

"Sakura," Kakashi said as he continued to nudge her. "You need to get home."

A single emerald eye opened, seeming to grow an eerie green before Sakura fully sat up with a groan.

"Hai, hai. As you wish," Sakura said as she struggled to stand. With a frown, she discarded her armor, then the weights on her legs with a happy sigh. Kakashi's eyes widened slightly as he saw her release the weights.

"You were wearing those the entire time?"

"'Course. Heiki-san and Kantoku-san are absolute tyrants. I'm not supposed to take these off during training or anything else unless it's an emergency, but I'd rather sleep on the training grounds then walk back with them on." Sakura sealed the items into a scroll and put it into her pouch. She swayed minutely as she stood before regaining her balance. She hesitantly took one step forward as if testing her mobility and seemed satisfied when her leg didn't give out on her. "Then I'll see you tomorrow, Kakashi-sensei. Thank you for staying so late with me," she said with a bow.

"It's not a problem. I'm glad to see my students working so hard."

"Even when the teacher isn't most of the time," Sakura lamented.

"Sakura..." Kakashi warned. Sakura jolted and immediately sputtered out apologies, hoping Kakashi wouldn't multiply her training again on a whim.

"You know what, I think I'll go home right now," Sakura said as she ran out of the training grounds with a sudden burst of energy. Kakashi smiled in amusement as he also made his way home.

Kakashi paused. Did he have anything in his fridge? No. Of course he didn't. He'd have to starve tonight, eat out tomorrow morning, and then get groceries after tomorrow's training.

...

 _I haven't written in this at all since Kaa-chan first gave this to me... Kaa-chan died today. She was really sick. This is Kaa-chan's last present, so I think I'll try to keep writing like Kaa-chan wished. Tobirama is also already an year into his training. He's doing really well. I'm afraid Tou-san might send him out early at this rate. I have to be better if I want to protect him._

 _-Hashirama_

...

Kakashi was surprised to see Sakura the next day looking as if the nightmare of yesterday had never happened. She didn't look like she was suffering from muscle pain or exhaustion at all. If anything, she looked as energetic as ever.

"Kakashi-sensei! Are we going to do a mission today?" Naruto asked eagerly.

"Hm. Why not?" Kakashi said. "Of course you can't complain once you get it because it's 'lame'."

"But picking up trash and painting fences is _lame_ ," Naruto said with a scowl. Kakashi sighed. Sakura opened her mouth then closed it.

"You can't be so picky with what missions we're given. You're all still genin. Look what happened last time with 'C-rank' mission we got."

"But we were actually doing ninja things then!" Naruto yelled. "D-ranks are easy! Anybody can paint fences and walk dogs."

"During the war," Sakura interrupted in a quiet voice, uncharacteristically serious, "even newly graduated Academy students could be sent to the war front. Easy missions like these are available because we are at peace. Don't take it for granted..."

Naruto fell silent, looking a little guilty.

"-Is what somebody once told me." Sakura said a bit contemplatively. "I haven't experienced a war myself, nor do I wish to, and this is probably something veterans are able to appreciate more. I concede our missions are pretty trivial, but I think that is also good and it's nothing to be scoffed at." Sakura paused before adding, "And there's the fact that we're not executing the missions as efficiently as we could be. We are technically being paid to do these menial tasks that the clients could have asked any other ordinary citizens to do at the same price; the least we should do is do them perfectly or better. The fact we're not even doing D-ranks properly says a lot as easy as they are."

"...Sorry," Naruto mumbled. "I didn't think of it like that."

"There's no need to be down about it," Sakura said as she nudged his shoulder. "We'll just do D-ranks so well that the Jiji will have to give us a higher ranked mission!"

"Yeah..." Naruto said, perking up. "Yeah! Let's do this!" Naruto cheered. Sasuke smirked slightly and Kakashi smiled. It seemed he didn't have to say anything after all.

"To the Hokage's office!" Naruto cheered, bounding towards the Hokage tower with more enthusiasm than he had had in weeks. Sasuke followed after the blond with hands stuffed into his pockets.

Sakura turned to Kakashi and gave him two thumbs up once the two were out of earshot. "Now they'll be super motivated for about a week."

Kakashi returned the thumbs up. "Nice job. Very cunning of you, Sakura."

"Can we at least avoid the Tora mission though?" Sakura asked hopefully.

"We have to accept whatever we're given by the Hokage."

"Ugh..."

"I'm surprised you're so chipper today seeing as you seemed as you were on the verge of death yesterday," Kakashi said abruptly. Sakura smirked before lifting a gloved hand that glowed a familiar shade of green.

"The benefits of iryo-ninjutsu."

"Aa."

"You should learn some too since you get injured so often, Sensei."

"Maybe. I haven't taken that into consideration much since it always turns out..." Kakashi trailed off. _Should_ he have learned some healing techniques? If he had, than could things have ended differently? Could he have-

"Kakashi-sensei?" Sakura asked. Kakashi shook out of his reverie.

"Hm? Oh, I'm sorry for zoning out. Well, I never took it up myself since it never interested me. Besides, the medical discipline takes up a lot of time and dedication." He had always taken it for granted. Rin for granted. His eyes briefly flickered towards the Memorial Stone visible from the training grounds.

"Sensei..."

"Hm?" Kakashi said distractedly. Sakura stared at him for a moment with unreadable eyes.

"You're a pretty bad teacher," Sakura said bluntly. "You're late. You don't teach us much. I'm sure there are many others who could be better at this job than you." Kakashi cringed. "But I'm glad you're our teacher. I wouldn't trade you for any other. I can't even imagine anyone else as the leader of Team 7 besides you. I'm sure Naruto and Sasuke think the same. You were really dependable during the mission in Wave... excluding the part where you passed out after you battled Zabuza the first time, of course. We're really glad we met you." With that, Sakura ran after her teammates, yelling for them to slow down. Kakashi blinked, feeling slightly warm. It seemed like he wasn't doing to horrible of a job if his students were saying that.

Kakashi trailed after his students at a leisurely pace, pursing his lips underneath his masks as he contemplated the past few months. All of them had certainly matured, especially after the mission to Wave Country. Naruto was more aware of the power difference that existed; the too naive outlook he had was gone. Sasuke had awakened his Sharingan. And he was getting along with his team more? Then the wild card Sakura... who Kakashi could not exactly figure out. There were moments when she acted beyond her years and she seemed sensitive to the moods of those around her. And her dream was certainly unusual with a questionable motive. Naruto, as was made blatantly obvious through his actions as dreams, was driven by his need to be acknowledged. He took after Kushina and nature, but Kakashi had no doubt Naruto would achieve the title of Hokage like his father. Sasuke was driven by his hatred and need to avenge the family his brother had killed. He was closed off, but seemed to have a strange friendship through Sasuke formed through rivalry.

And Sakura wanted to become the God of Shinobi. For what? It was a rather large dream for any person. The only one to have achieved the title was Senju Hashirama who had ended the Warring States Era by uniting the Senju and Uchiha. He and Madara Uchiha were considered on an entirely different level from any other shinobi, within their era and even now. When they had fought, maps had to be redrawn, or the stories went at least. What goal did she have to want to reach an impossible dream? Or perhaps he was just overthinking things. Maybe she just wanted to be the God of Shinobi the way a child might wish to be a leader of a country.

"Kakashi-sensei, hurry up!" Naruto yelled, drawing glares from nearby civilians. "You're so slow!"

"Why wouldn't I want to take my time and enjoy the scenery?"

"You must have seen the scenery plenty of times since you're so old. Hurry up!" Naruto replied.

Kakashi sighed. Kids these days had no manners.

...

 _It's so bloody. War is terrifying, and there are so many children fighting. Tobi's been allowed to join us too. I feel as if my heart is going to leap out of my chest with worry. He shouldn't be out here, but father is pleased with both of our performances. He's pushing Itama and Kawarama's training. The war has so many casualties, but I selfishly wish my brothers will not be one of them. I need to get stronger for them. I want them to live a long fulfilled life. I know Kaa-chan won't want us to be joining her so soon._

 _There's so much hate, but no one seems to remember who started what and why they're still fighting. In this new generation, should it survive, I hope to meet others who might share my dream of peace._

 _-Hashirama_

...

* * *

 **A/N: Hello... Yes, I haven't updated this in a while and updates will be far and few in between due to school. Yes, the introduction was pretty bad. I'm trying to add some new arcs to develop the characters more before the chunin exams. This chapter is less than my 10k goal, but I kept taking huge chunks out and adding small things in. I know the direction I want this to go in, but its's hard sometimes to build it up. I do want them to have another mission out the village like the Wave arc which takes a couple of chapters.**

 **And just for any future complaints, I'm trying not to make Sakura overpowered. However, she has trained all these years under former ANBU so it's not out of place that she is strong. In perspective, I'm trying to put her on the basic level of Itachi when he was 13.**

 **As a note, since I am dragging it out, I plan on revealing the name of the owner of the ring during the chunin exam. I'll do my best to update as much as I can. Thank you to those who have supported this story thus far.**

 **~Tokumei Yurei**


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12:**

They were outside the village, picking herbs and other medicinal plants per request of the hospital. Kakashi kept a constant eye on Naruto who had already picked the wrong plant(some were poisonous enough to cause rashes, to some that were downright lethal) fifty four times. Kakashi knew the hospital double checked the plants, but he planned on taking a cursory check himself of all the plants to reduce the complaints and paperwork that would come.

Sakura had stationed herself next to Naruto after a while, confirming whether or not he had the right plant. Sasuke was not too far off, eyeing the plants carefully before picking them just as Kakashi had instructed.

"Sakura-chan. Is this plant okay?" Naruto held out a small plant he had picked for approval.

"Hm... Yeah, I think so. You're getting better at finding them."

"It's thanks to Sakura-chan!" Naruto replied with a large grin.

The scene was relaxing to watch, even as Naruto began taunting Sasuke how he had more herbs in his basket than Sasuke did. Kakashi started to understand why the Sandaime had insisted he take on a team.

"It's about hour past noon now," Kakashi said to get their attention. "How about we take a lunch break?"

"Yes!" Naruto said happily, nearly dropping his basket in excitement. "Finally, let's eat!"

The three genin gathered around where Kakashi was sitting and Sakura unsealed four bentos, something becoming a familiar sight.

"Thanks Sakura-chan! Itadakimasu!" Naruto said as he took one of the bentos and a set of chopsticks. Sasuke reluctantly said his own thank you as he also took the bento and chopsticks held out to him. Kakashi smiled as his student also handed him one.

"Thank you, Sakura," Kakashi said as he took the box. He didn't even bat an eye at the strange food arranged in the box. "It's very kind of you to prepare food for us so often when we're out on missions. It must take a lot of time and resources to make them every time."

Not that he was against free food, but it didn't sit well that she seemed to be shouldering all of the burden herself.

Naruto stopped chewing as he picked up on what Kakashi was getting on about, a guilty expression crossed his face.

"I didn't think of that," Naruto said, the others leaning back as grains of rice flew out of his mouth. He knew from personal experience that budgeting what little finances they got was a difficult task. "You know you don't have to do this, Sakura-chan."

Sakura cocked her head in confusion.

"This is what people do for people they care about is it not? Sharing a meal is also a bonding experience. Ah, if you're worried about finances, it's no trouble. I've been making enough on a side job of mine."

"It's still burdensome for one single person," Kakashi argued. "We can eat out as well."

"I'm serious, I like doing this," Sakura insisted. "I always have leftovers since I eat alone, and I just know the rest of you aren't eating as well as you probably should be. Health is very important, especially for growing shinobi."

"Then at least let us chip in for the groceries," Kakashi suggested. Kakashi caught the way Sakura briefly glanced to Naruto with a troubled look. He didn't blame her; the funds for orphaned kids and D-rank mission pay was just enough to live off as it was (especially since Naruto seemed to enjoy eating his own weight in ramen).

"I assure you that things are fine the way it is," Sakura said firmly. "Seeing you all eat is payment enough. Think of it as... a token of my gratitude."

"But I feel bad just taking stuff from you," Naruto mumbled. Sakura shot Kakashi a mild glare for bringing up the subject.

"It's alright," Sakura assured Naruto. "This is my thanks to you for being such a good friend. I've also been able to learn a lot from you, Uzumaki Naruto. Besides, Kami knows you deserve at least this much, and more..."

Naruto stared, face unreadable as he seemed to turn Sakura's words over in his head. A flash emotions crossed Naruto's face briefly before his eyes narrowed.

"Waaaait. Say that makes sense, and I get food for being a good friend. What do Teme and Kaka-sensei do?!"

"Kakashi-sensei... for putting up with us, I guess?"

"Amen to that," Kakashi said under his breath.

"As for Sasuke..."

 _..._

 _I promised him I'd watch over Sasuke._

"For his absolutely stellar personality, of course," Sakura finished, cheerily turning back to her lunch. She sighed in contentment as she lifted a thick green paste up and eyed it appreciatively.

"Yes, I'm truly brilliant. I could totally become a master chef," Sakura complimented herself, letting out a moan of delight as the sharp taste spread across her tongue. "So good~ I'm really a culinary genius."

The others stared at her flatly as she praised herself. Naruto curiously poked his chopsticks in the same green paste in his own bento, lifting a small amount to his mouth.

The others watched as Naruto's face visually reddened. The boy let out a choked noise of pain as he set down his bento and clawed at his mouth.

"Aggaaaah!" Naruto groaned as tears streamed down his face. He ran for his bag, digging through until he found his water bottle. He drained the bottle, spilling plenty over the sides of his face. Kakashi held out his own bottle of water when he saw that Naruto had run out.

Sakura blinked in confusion as Naruto similarly drained Kakashi's water bottle. She didn't think it was that bad.

Kakashi took a careful whiff of the green stuff in his own bento. His face twisted horribly as the sharp smell caused him sneeze and his eyes to water.

Naruto had yet to find relief and was anxiously pacing while screaming hoarsely. Finally, he ran off to the stream a couple meters of way, desperately trying to cool his tongue in the water. It was a good thirty minutes before Naruto regained a semblance of normalcy.

"Sho spishy," Naruto panted, nursing his refilled bottle of water in his hands. "Whaaat is zhaat?!"

"My homemade wasabi."

Sasuke made an audible noise of disgust as he scooped up the wasabi(and everything else in contact with it) in his own bento and dumped it onto the ground.

"Sasuke!" Sakura said in horror. "Why would you do that?!"

"If you expect me to eat another one of your death traps, you must be insane," Sasuke hissed.

"Don't waste it then! If you didn't want it, you should have given it to me!"

"Then..." Sakura turned to Kakashi who sheepishly dumped the wasabi into her bento, having finished everything else in the blink of an eye.

"You didn't even try it," Sakura said, disappointed.

"No... I think I'll pass since we already almost lost Naruto here." Kakashi gestured to Naruto who still looked traumatized.

"Suit yourself," Sakura said as she scooped the whole blob and jammed it into her mouth. "That's the taste," she hummed as it quickly dissolved in her mouth.

"Shusa," Sasuke grunted.

"Wimps," Sakura shot back. "It's not that spicy."

"Oh, not at all," Sasuke said, rolling his eyes. "It just feels like a paper tag went off in your mouth."

"Yes, it is an explosion of flavor," Sakura nodded, quite proud of herself.

"It's an exploshion of death," Naruto said, still not able to form his words properly.

"Fine! See if I ever give you anything that good ever again!"

"Thank Kami for that."

"You, Sasuke, shut it."

...

 _I cannot express my excitement for what has happened today. I will not say exactly what it is, for fear someone else might be reading this, but I can only believe that someone has heard my prayers. Perhaps it was fate. Perhaps ending this war is not an impossible dream; I know now that I am not alone in my endeavors._

 _Today has given me great hope._

 _-Hashirama_

* * *

"I suppose I should start moving again," the man mused. A gust of wind swept by, and the man snatched a leaf between his fingers. He rubbed it contemplatively, before releasing it with a smile. "Change is in the air. After so many centuries, it seems the final chapter of this story will come in this generation. I wonder what kind of person you turned out to be this time..."

...

Sakura's hand froze over the carton of nail. She suddenly looked up, half expecting somebody to be there.

"Huh?" Sakura whipped her head around. "That's strange. It feels as if there's someone..."

"Sakura-chan! I ran out of nails! Do you have any I can use?" Naruto called from his position on the roof. Their current mission was repairing the roof tiles of the client, and already, Sasuke and Naruto had made it into a mini competition.

"Yep. Plenty! Just take these and I'll just get another carton," Sakura said, tossing him the half-full box of nails. Naruto happily thanked her as Sakura jumped off the roof to the ground. She looked around once more, brushing her bangs out of the way as the wind blew it into her eyes.

Sakura rubbed her head.

Maybe she had made a mistake.

* * *

"There has been a lack of... personnel at hand... Seems as if there is no other choice but to hand over this C-rank to you," Hiruzen said with a deep sigh. Naruto cheered before the meaning of his words truly sank in.

"Hey, Jiji! You saying we're last resort?! Why?!" Sasuke nearly slapped his forehead in annoyance.

" _That's_ why, Dobe. Because you can't keep your mouth shut."

"Teme! If you haven't noticed, you ain't Mr. Sunshine either! I bet your horrible attitude is what ruins everything."

"Guys-"

" _Sakura_. Do _not_ make it worse," Kakashi interrupted, earning an indignant glare.

"I do not make it worse." Sakura mumbled. Hiruzen sighed deeply.

"Come in," he called out. Heads turned as the door opened and their client stepped in.

...

 _Mission Rank: C_

 _Client: Emiko Miho_

 _Description: Escort the client to and from the nearby Fire Shrine. Mission is expected to take about 4-7 days._

 _..._

"These are my escorts?" The tall, thin lady gazed at them with unreadable eyes. Sakura and Naruto shifted nervously as the woman's gaze lingered over them. "What a strange bunch."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Naruto asked, bristling.

"About the same thing as what Tazuna said when he first saw us, I would imagine," Sakura said with a small sigh, but never the less stuck her hand out to the woman. "Hello, nice to meet you. I am Sakura, and this is Naruto, Sasuke, and our jonin leader, Kakashi-sensei. I hope we get along."

The woman stared at the outstretched hand.

"I apologize, but I will have to pass on the handshakes unless you've washed or sanitized your hands."

Sakura withdrew her hand with surprised. "Oh, alright."

"Please trust us with your care," Kakashi said neutrally, though he did not offer his hand like Sakura had done. Emiko managed to nod in their direction before walking out of the room as quick as she had come. Team 7 turned towards the Sandaime who waved them permission to leave.

"Kakashi, _please_ , no incidents this time around," the Sandaime said to the last one out. Kakashi gave him a lazy salute in return but did not give verbal confirmation. From experience, even a simple mission like this could go downhill fast. Kakashi slid the door close and turned to his students who awaited his instructions.

"...Well then, Team 7. I will see you at the gates thirty minutes from now."

"Hai," they answered with various degrees of motivation ranging from highly disinterested to not interested. They shuffled out of the building without so much a word, unusual considering they were usually quite boisterous.

...

Sakura rushed to get her stuff together. After all, she had to make a quick trip before she met up at the gates with the rest of the team. She leaped over the rooftops, landing in front of building bursting with flora. The bell chimed as she opened the door.

"Welcome- Oh, Sakura!" Inoichi beamed. "I haven't seen you in quite a while."

"Hello, Inoichi-san. It's been a long time. It's rare that you look over the shop. Don't you have your day job? It's usually Yamanaka-sama or Ino-san looking after the shop." Sakura said as she made her way through the familiar isles of the store, inspecting the bright flowers bathing in the sunlight. Inoichi let out a sheepish chuckle.

"Well, work's been slow, and Ino is out with her genin team now. Airi-chan always looks after the store so she demanded that if I'm not busy, I should watch the shop once in a while. After that, she stormed off to go meet Yoshino, I think." Sakura hummed as she picked up a batch of colorful flowers and made her way towards the counter.

As the man racked up the bill, she calmly added, "You also drank yesterday night and Yamanaka-sama is making you watch the store as punishment." Inoichi's brow flew up before he laughed. His laughter was quickly cut off though as he gripped his head to ease his headache.

"Never escapes your eyes, does it? Was I that obvious?" Inoichi asked as he tied the flowers with a simple red ribbon.

"Your chakra is flickering as it does when a person is in pain, you've been limiting your overall movement, and you looked like you were about to kill the bell when I walked in." Sakura wrinkled her nose. "And your breath smells of alcohol. Please do not neglect your hygiene as well as your health and brush your teeth." Sakura handed over the necessary money as Inoichi's lips spread into a grin.

"You're good."

"No, hungover ninjas are just too obvious."

"If you say so," Inoichi said, obviously amused. He handed her the flowers which she took gently. "So, zinnias this time? And quite the variety too. If I remember correctly, that is 'daily rememberance', yes? Are you visiting your parents again?"

"Mm... Not this time," Sakura said as she inhaled the scent of the flowers before sneezing violently. "Ugh... I never get why people say stop to smell the roses, they don't smell all that good."

"Those are zinnias."

"Roses don't smell that good either, I've checked. Anyways, arigato, Inoichi-san! It's nice seeing you. I've got to run, bye!" Sakura yelled as she ran out.

"Bye," Inoichi echoed, as he gave a small wave. "Kids, they grow up so fast."

He groaned as the pounding headache made itself known again.

* * *

 _Kawarama is dead. We buried what was left of him today._

 _..._

 _Itama died. He's dead. Half of my brothers are dead. It's just Tobirama. I only have Tobirama. Tobirama is my last brother. I'll protect him even if it costs me my life. Tobi must not die._

* * *

 **Omake**

Kakashi's Cooking

"It's... good." Sakura took took another bite. "It's really good."

"I didn't know you could cook, Kaka-sensei," Naruto commented as he held up the grilled saury out of the bento.

"Well, you can't expect a single man living alone to not have some sort of cooking skill." Kakashi said as he rubbed his head. "You can't expect to eat out everyday and you can't live off of instant food either."

Naruto looked ready to disagree.

Naruto's Cooking

"Naruto..." Kakashi sighed, massaging the bridge of his nose.

"What?" Naruto replied, looking honestly confused by their hesitation.

"Should I get some water boiling?" Sakura offered politely.

"Dobe, this is cup ramen."

"Yeah. So?"

"It's... never mind."

Sasuke's Cooking

"Well done," Sakura said, lifting up a piece of her meal. "Really well done."

"And she means not 'well done' as in 'good job', but that everything is burnt to a crisp," Kakashi added helpfully.

"Dude, is this rice? How'd you manage to burn that?" Naruto asked, poking at the hard lump in the bento handed to him.

"That's pickled cabbage," Sasuke corrected.

"...Why is it burnt?" Two sets of heads nodded in agreement with Sakura's statement.

"Are you sure you didn't just fill a bento with a bunch of coals?" Naruto asked, earning him a scowl from Sasuke. "I mean, just looking at it, what made you think this was okay? I'm sure _I_ could do better. Have you never cooked for yourself before?"

"Packaged meals conserved time," Sasuke said with a sniff.

Sakura tentatively took a bite out of one of the burnt food items. The others winced at the ominous crunching sound and the black flakes that fell.

After chewing for a while, Sakura swallowed. "I guess it's somewhat edible?" She finally said after a moment of silence. "I mean, I was able to discern that that might have been tofu."

"I didn't use tofu."

"..."

"Oh."

"..."

"Well it isn't unbearable. Itadakimasu," Sakura said as she continued to eat with much less caution.

Kakashi and Naruto stared at her with confused horror while Sasuke reevaluated his own work. Sasuke sampled his own food and spat it out not a second later. Sasuke frowned. He thought he had done fine, at first.

"Shusa- I don't need your pity," Sasuke snarled, immediately concluding that Sakura was trying to make him feel better because there was no way in _hell_ that whatever he had cooked was edible.

"What do you mean?" Sakura said as she swallowed. "I mean, it's not as good as my food, but it's not bad. I've tasted much worse Ah, are you guys not going to eat yours? I'll eat it if you want. It's a waste of good food if you throw it away, yeah?"

"She's actually eating it. She's actually..." Naruto said in awe as Sakura finished her entire bento with little indication anything was wrong.

"Freak," Sasuke muttered.

"That cannot be healthy," Kakashi mused.

* * *

 **A/N: This is... extremely late. I am very sorry for holding it off so long. I should be able to put out more chapters during the summer, though. This chapter still seems all over the place, but I've rewritten it so many times that I decided to choose one of the versions I've written so there's no more changing it and I can move on. Minor edits might be made to ease the flow of the chapter. After this mission, it'll be the start of the beloved chunin exam arc... probably. I know there's not a lot going on in this chapter, but I do want to develop the characters and their relationships. Thank you to everyone who has read and supported this story, I really hope to finish it without it becoming a train wreck.**

 **~ Tokumei Yurei**


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